Sheikah Hero
by shadow djinni
Summary: Rinku, a mixed-blood Sheikah awaiting his final trial. Fyra, a Twili princess who longs for adventure. Kiona, a Hylian girl with an enormous, dangerous secret. When an ancient evil rises, can they put their differences aside and fight together? T for blood and Fyra's mouth. TP overworld, set in the child timeline.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This fic is based off a blasphemous drawing I did: Link as a Sheikah. It kept bothering me, so I just had to start writing, and then posting. And before I fully realized what was going on...ah, forget it. Here goes nothin'.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Legend of Zelda, or any locations, situations, or characters. I do own my OCs, though.**

Chapter 1: Enter Rinku

Rinku crouched in the center of the training room, glaring fiercely at the sandbag dummy. Sweat dripped into his ice-blue eyes, making them sting. He knew full well it wasn't a true opponent and wouldn't fight back, but his mentor always said to pretend it was real. She said that imagining a life-or-death situation while training helped hone your instincts, so when you came across a real fight you wouldn't die. In his mind's eye, the sandbag was a bokoblin, swinging its club and screeching. Rinku darted forward, springing into the air and slamming the 'bokoblin' feet first.

His foe skidded back a few feet, and he followed up his flying kick with several lightning-fast punches. The 'bokoblin' recovered, rearing back to brain him with its club. Rinku backflipped out of its range and snatched several Sheikah needles from ha pouch at his waist. They slid naturally between his bandage-wrapped fingers. Rinku drew his arm back and threw the slender projectiles towards his foe. The sandbag fell over backwards. Had it _actually_ been a bokoblin, his three needles would have pegged it in three fatal spots: between the eyes, in the throat, and in the chest. Beneath his cowl, Rinku grinned and wiped sweat from his forehead. He was just in the process of removing his needles from the sandbag when he heard the clapping behind him.

"Bravo, Rinku." The teenaged Sheikah turned to see his mentor standing in the doorway behind him.

Impa was a tall, slender Sheikah woman. Her long, white-blonde hair was back in its usual braid, which was flung over her shoulder. Her Sheikah bodysuit was mocha-colored with dust from the road, nearly the same shade as her skin. Her red eyes glimmered.

"You saw all that?" Rinku asked, blushing. Impa was the matriarch of the Sheikah, as well as the appointed guardian of the Hylian Princess, Zelda. She was also the strictest mentor a Sheikah warrior trainee could end up with, and the hardest to please.

"I did," she replied. "Good technique, excellent form. However, you made one mistake. Can you tell me what it was?" This was another of her training methods. She always said that if he could figure out what his mistake had been, he was halfway on the way to correcting it.

Rinku sighed. "I hesitated too long before I threw my needles. That timespan would have been enough for my enemy to come over and smash my head in." Impa nodded.

"However, Rinku," the younger Sheikah looked up at her through jagged blond bangs, "You may get your wish after all. I have spoken with the elders, and they say you may take the final test at the end of the week."

Rinku jumped into the air and let out a whoop of joy. The end of the week was his sixteenth birthday, the day he was recognized as an adult in the Sheikah community. Taking the final test—a trial of strength, courage, and ingenuity—on his birthday would mean he became a full Sheikah warrior and got his teardrop tattoo on the day he left childhood behind and entered adulthood. He would be the first Sheikah to do this in nearly 500 years—since Sheik, the guide of the Hero of Time. He would also be the youngest Sheikah to get his tattoo in nearly the same amount of time.

"Anyway," Impa said, "I came to remind you that we are going in to Castle Town tomorrow. It is, after all, the princess's birthday."

Rinku grinned. He and Impa made regular trips to the largest community in Hyrule—too large to be called a town, yet not large enough to be called a city—because of his mentor's role as the princess's guardian. When he'd begun training at age ten, Impa had taken him to Castle Town for the first time. The first year of training was vital to a young Sheikah, and Impa didn't want to hold him back. She had also wanted to introduce him to his future role as guard to the next princess. Rinku had known Zelda since he was ten, and had spent lots of time helping the auburn-haired princess sneak out of the castle and into the surrounding town.

"Thanks, Impa. That reminds me, there's something I need to pick up in Castle Town before we go to see Zelda." His mentor chuckled, and Rinku blushed. For the last year, Impa had been under the impression that he had a crush on Zelda.

"I'm giving you the rest of the evening," Impa said, "To get ready to go and have a little fun. Just don't go too overboard and let your friends get you carried away, okay?" Rinku saluted smartly.

"Yes, ma'am!"

Half an hour later, Rinku had a light bag packed for Castle Town. In it, he had a shirt and breeches for being in town, a dressier shirt and trousers for the banquet and ball that would undoubtedly occur in celebration, and a tunic in case Zelda convinced him to help her sneak out into Hyrule Field. The first time they did that, his breeches and her skirt had been torn by the brambles they'd unintentionally ended up tangled in. Bag packed, Rinku slipped out his window and over to his friends' usual spot beneath an alpine birch in the center of the village.

They were waiting for him, a trio of Sheikah about his age. Kiro, tall, slim, and dark. Juro, Kiro's twin. And Ria, Rinku's fair-haired sparring partner. All three were training to be warrior Sheikah.

"Soooo, Rinku," Kiro drawled, "I heard you're taking the final test at the end of the week—"

"—on your birthday, no less." finished Juro.

"Yeah, well, that's three days from now, and Impa's dragging me in to Castle Town for Zelda's birthday tomorrow, so this is my last opportunity for fun before then, and I want to make the most of it. Let's go do something."

"How about we go for a dip in the stream?" suggested Ria. Rinku shrugged.

"Fine by me." The four young Sheikah jogged out the west gate to the village.

Concealed high in the mountainous terrain on the border between Lanayru and Eldin Provinces, the Sheikah village was isolated from much of the rest of Hyrule. The Sheikah tribe had been secretive since their founding at the beginning of Hyrule; but when Ganondorf had nearly wiped out the tribe 500 years previously, they had all but disappeared. The Hero of Twilight, 200 years after the passing of the Hero of Time, had come across the original village. He had brought the supposedly extinct tribe to the attention of the princess of the timeperiod, and she had renewed the bond between the royal line and the line of guardian Sheikah. Since then, the tribe had moved higher up the mountains, to a place nearly inaccessible to the other races of Hyrule.

Rinku and his friend were nearly to the stream when a quintet of older Sheikah stepped out from behind the rocks to block the path.

"And where do you think _you're_ going, mixed-blood? Doesn't your nursemaid keep you in your playpen anymore?" sneered Jaren, the leader of the other group. Jaren stood head and shoulders taller than Rinku, with greasy, shoulder-length brown hair and small, malicious red eyes. He was the newest Sheikah warrior, having only gotten his tattoo a few days previously. The skin under his left eye, where the tattoo was traditionally placed, was still tender-looking.

"Really? I have a nursemaid? How come nobody told me that?" Rinku asked, voice heavy with sarcasm. "And I didn't know you still let your mummy dress you, either. Really, that's quite immature for the newest warrior." Jaren's eyes narrowed with hatred.

"At least I'm not a blue-eyed freak like you."

"At least my face isn't scrunched up in a permanent scowl like yours is. I bet nobody told you your face would freeze in that expression when you were little, 'cause it has. No wonder you can't get girls."

One of Jaren's meathead friends stepped over and lifted Rinku by the neck of his Sheikah uniform. "Say that again, pipsqueak, I dare you."

"Jaren can't get girls because his face is stuck in that ugly expression. Oh, wait, I forgot. He was born ugly. That face doesn't change a thing."

The meathead punched Rinku full in the face, releasing his uniform as the blow connected. Rinku was flung backwards by the force of the blow. Then, Jaren stepped forward himself. The look in his eyes was murderous. By the scuffling sounds in the dirt, Rinku could tell his friends were backing away. He didn't blame them. Just as Jaren raised his foot to kick Rinku where it counted, a fierce voice cut through the air.

"Just _what_ do you think you're doing with my trainee, Jaren?" Impa bellowed from down the trail. Jaren squeaked in absolute terror. Rinku had his eyes closed, but his ears were working fine. He clearly heard Jaren and his cowardly friends take off. A moment later, Impa had reached him.

"Rinku, are you alright?" asked Impa.

"Im_paaaaa_," he groaned in protest. "Quit coddling me! Geez, now I know what Jaren meant with those nursemaid comments." Impa looked confused. "You remember how the nursemaid and guardian of the Princess of Destiny was named Impa?" Impa shook her head, chuckling.

"Impudent boy," she snorted. "No respect for his elders. That, Rinku, is why his final test was held off until his eighteenth birthday. He isn't worth the time and energy to bother with."

**A/N: So...yeah. Blasphemous, I know, but I think it's gonna go places! Any ideas for temples, bosses, etc.? Send me a review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I'm baaaack! This chapter is introducing one of my other main characters. She seems more depressed than she really is in this chapter, but she ****_really_**** wants out. **

**LEva114: Thank you sooooooo much for your review! You're correct, Zelink is coming. I'm glad I could renew your interest in the Zelda archive. Thanks for the complement on my style, I try to make it fairly easy on the reader. You've really brightened my day!**

**alfred pierce: OMG, thank you for the favorite. I know how you feel about the Sheikah, they're really awesome.**

**I figured I'd reward both my reviewers by getting this chapter out as soon as possible, so here it is!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own LOZ, or any affiliated characters or situations. I do own my OCs.**

Chapter 2: Fyra, Twili Princess

I stared gloomily out my window into the twilit sky. Not that it ever changed from day to day, it was always twilight here. Someday, I was going to go to the Light Realm, just like my ancestor. It's not like I don't like it here in the Twilight Realm, it's just that I want more to do with my life.

"Fyra, you are not paying attention to your lessons." Of course my tutor would interrupt my daydream. Sighing, I turned my attention to him.

"Yes, Master Iguna?" His ancient face, laden with heavy wrinkles, lifted into a smile.

"I know that you would enjoy being anywhere but here, Fyra, but you must pay attention for half an hour more. I think I should make that half an hour interesting, don't you?"

"Yes, please!" I exclaimed, before clapping both hands over my mouth. Princesses are not supposed to act like that around their subordinates. Master Iguna chuckled.

"Very well, then. You were curious about your ancestor, Queen Midna, were you not?" I nodded happily. "Most of what we know of her is shrouded in legend. I shall tell you one of the most correct ones." I settled myself in my seat, placing both elbows on the table and my chin into my cupped palms.

"The legend begins here, in the Twilight Realm, when the princess of Twilight, Midna, was nearing her seventeenth birthday. Her mother, the queen, had decreed that on Midna's seventeenth birthday the princess would claim her birthright. Unfortunately, not all were happy with these arrangements.

"The queen's youngest visor, Lord Zant, had been promised Midna's hand in marriage. However, he was caught with Midna's lady-in-waiting, and banished from the castle. Scarcely a month later, he returned with an army of corrupted Twili and a strange new power. He killed the queen and attempted to force Midna to marry him. She refused, and he cursed her into the form of an imp and cast her out of her own castle. He then launched an assault on the unsuspecting Light Realm and began to claim it for his own.

"Midna, determined to reclaim her throne, followed him into the darkened Light Realm. Somewhere, during her travels, she found help."

"The Hero of Twilight," I whispered reverently. He was a legend among our people. The green-clad Hylian with the eyes of a wolf. The sacred beast who cleansed the Twilight of evil.

"Indeed," said Master Iguna, "the Hero of Twilight. Together, they reclaimed the Fused Shadows and restored the broken Mirror of Twilight. Link defeated Zant, but allowed Midna to have her revenge. The Twilight Princess slew him herself. They then returned to the light Realm to defeat the source of Zant's evil powers: Ganondorf, the King of Darkness. In an epic battle, the Hero slew him; but the fiend nearly killed Midna.

"In reward for her deeds, the four Light Spirits restored Midna to her true form. They returned to the Chamber of the Mirror, and Princess Midna returned to the Twilight Realm. However, she broke the Mirror of Twilight to protect the Light Realm from interference from the Twilight, cutting us off from them….and her from her beloved, the Hero of Twilight." Master Iguna looked at me sadly.

"There are still old portraits of Queen Midna around the palace. My old eyes may be inaccurate, but you look much like she did at your age."

I stopped twirling a strand of my long, red hair around my finger and stared at him. I had seen several of these portraits. Queen Midna had been a tall, statuesque Twili, wearing her hair in the old style of the royal family. Since her rule, princesses had been released from those constraints, and I wore my hair in a ponytail. True, I was tall and slender like she had been; but her amber eyes were narrow where mine were wide, and I wore a short tunic where she wore hardly anything. True, it was harder to tell when Twili were naked—because of our black and grey skin and blue patterns on our arms—but all she wore was a cloak and a long piece of cloth belted around her waist. Besides, she was far prettier than I would ever be.

Suddenly, the palace bells began tolling the hour. Master Iguna jumped slightly.

"It appears we had less time left in our lesson than I had thought. You are free to go."

"Thank you, Master!"

I bounded to my feet and dashed out the door. I was going to find one of those portraits and do a little comparing myself.

After hours of searching, I finally found a portrait of Midna when she had been my age. Narrow, catlike eyes stared out from her pale grey face. Her red hair was up in that awkward-looking do, the back pinned up and the front parts tied between her breasts. She smiled seductively at the painter. Master Iguna was right, there was a distinct resemblance. But there was one huge difference that wasn't even remotely physical.

Midna had been one of the most powerful magic users of her time. She could control the Twilight and, when using the Fused Shadows, she had been nearly unstoppable. I was a disgrace to the line. My powers were nearly nonexistent. I had been told that they were comparable to Midna's powers while she was under Zant's curse. I could create orbs of shadow energy, manage energy fields, and transfigure my hair into a giant hand for fighting, but that was it. I was pathetic. Less than useless. My own mother often told me she would rather put my older brother on the throne.

I suppose that's really why I want out so badly. If I'm somewhere nobody has any comparison for my powers, then I'm formidable. I can become more than just the failure. More than the disgrace. I can be _someone_. I want that. I want _out_.

I made my way back to my room in one of the twin towers of the Palace of Twilight. I had a good view of the platform where the portal between the Light Realm and our realm had once been. The shape of the portal had been carved into the platform. Concentric circles inscribed with runes surrounded the central figure, the Triforce. From up at my vantage point, it looked as though someone had painted it onto the ground with glowing pink-white light. It made for a beautiful view, but it only increased my longing. I sighed. My fantasies of going to the Light Realm were just that: fantasies. I would never go there. I would never see the 'sun' or the 'moon', never feel their light on my skin. I would live in this perpetual half-light forever.

**A/N: Yeah...Fyra seems depressed. Poor Twili. Don't worry, the next Fyra chapter I write will be more cheerful. And I'm introducing my third main character next chapter. The more reviews I get, the more motivated I am to post, so reviews are always accepted, even if they're flames. Hint-hint.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Here it comes: my third main character's introductory chapter. In case you haven't noticed, I've based my major characters off of original characters in the games. Rinku is a Link-Sheik hybrid. Fyra is my Midna-type. And this third character is sort of a combination TP-OOT Link-type. **

**LEva114: Thanks! That was exactly the effect I was aiming for with Fyra! Using Midna over and over turns into a bit of a drag after a while. And Midna is Fyra's role model-or maybe idol would be more appropriate.**

**griffemon: Yay, new reviewer! Thanks for taking the time to look at my stories.**

**alfred pierce: your eagerness encourages me to write faster. Thanks!**

**Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own LOZ, or any affiliated characters or situations. I do, however, own my OCs.**

Chapter 3: Kiona, Daughter of the Forest

Kiona perched on a tree limb overlooking Ordon Village. Below, people bustled in and out of houses, fished in the small lake, or headed up to the ranch to care for animals. Her brilliant green eyes took in everything below, darting from person to person. She was so focused on the village below; she didn't notice the sound of someone else clambering up to her hiding spot.

"Kiona!" Kiona jumped in surprise, nearly toppling from the branch. She shrieked, just barely grabbing onto the branch in time to keep from falling.

"Delilah! Don't do that!" Her best friend's face came into view, brown eyes twinkling with mirth and dirty blonde hair tangled.

"Why not?" Delilah giggled, "It's so much fun to watch you almost fall off the branch."

"Not for me! That fall could have killed me, and I have no intention of dying before I'm twenty."

"You are _waaaaaay_ too serious for a girl who's only just turned sixteen. Lighten up a bit and get a boyfriend so we have something to gossip about!"

"Goddesses spare me the torment," Kiona mumbled. Then, louder so Delilah could hear her, she said, "I'm going into the woods for a bit. See you later."

Kiona scrambled down the trunk of the tree and darted off up the road. She raced past the Spirit's Spring and over the bridge into Faron Woods. The dappled sunlight coming through the trees caught flaxen strands in her cappuccino-colored hair. Her green eyes glimmered. Here in the forest, she felt far more at home than she did inside. She bounded deeper into the woods, away from prying eyes that might witness her secret. If they saw, it was all over. Finally, Kiona stopped in a small clearing. The secluded glade was _her_ place, her haven. She stepped into the center of the clearing; glancing around to be sure no one was around. Kiona took a deep, steadying breath.

Suddenly, a golden light engulfed her, along with a feeling of intense heat. She squeezed her emerald eyes shut against the glare. The light was brilliant enough to come through her eyelids as a yellow glow, not unlike lying on her back with the sun full in her face. Eventually, the glow faded along with the heat. She opened her eyes.

Kiona's perspective was closer to the forest floor than before. The faintest noises caused her ears to twitch. She gracefully raised herself from her seated position onto all four paws. Her long, black-tipped tail swung behind her. She let out a cat-sigh of relief. Her other form, her puma form, was so much more _sensitive_ than her human form. In her two-legged shape, she felt deaf and blind when she compared her human senses to her puma ones.

**"Sooooo much better," **she purred.

She had first shifted on her sixteenth birthday, nearly a week ago. Kiona never celebrated her birthday, choosing to spend the time in the woods. At noontime, she had wandered into her clearing for a nap when the unexpected happened. She had been surrounded by golden light and, when the radiance faded, had found herself a puma. _That_ had been a bit of a shock, but she had accustomed quickly. Now, this form felt just as familiar as her human one.

Kiona shook the ruff on her neck, before stretching and yawning. She glanced about her once more before whisking off into the forest.

Kiona left the woods hours later, just before the village men closed the gates at sundown. She made her way down into the village. Delilah had invited her to dinner with her family the previous afternoon, and Kiona had accepted. After spending so long in her other shape, she needed some human company. She knocked quietly on the door. A moment passed before she caught the sound of bare feet running on a wooden floor. Delilah opened the door seconds later.

"Kiona! You're just in time!" She opened it the rest of the way to let Kiona enter.

"G'night Kiona! See you tomorrow! Remember, you're in charge of the goats!"

"G'night, 'Lilah."

Kiona walked back to her house, being careful not to disturb anyone on her way. The moon had risen, full and brilliant, and the village was silent. This was going to be one of those nights where she climbed to the roof of her house, and just lay on her back to watch the moon and stars spin dizzily overhead. The kind of night she hated to waste sleeping. A perfect night for dreaming of the heroes of old. No, Kiona wasn't about to go to sleep just yet. The cool eastern breeze would feel perfect ruffling a puma's fur.

**A/N: So, what do you think of Kiona? Loner like OOT Link, shapeshifting ability like TP Link. Next chapter, we're focusing back on Rinku again. His and Kiona's chapters will be in third person, Fyra's will remain in first person. I'm setting up a poll: which two of my main characters should meet each other first? Vote, please!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: So sorry I didn't update yesterday, but let me explain. I didn't have the chapter finished for three reasons: I procrastinated on a major school project up until the weekend before it was due, so I had to rush and do it; I had choir practice yesterday; and it's a pretty long chapter. Warning: Zelink fluff. Or, rather, ZeldaxRinku fluff.**

**LEva114: I completely forgot that puma was a brand of running shoe! Oh, goddesses! *blushing furiously* Anyway...yeah, genderbending is fun when done under the right circumstances. I think this counts as the right circumstances, don't you? By the way, you have been promoted to ****Awesomest Reader/Reviewer****. Within an hour after I posted the last chapter, you'd read, reviewed, ****_and_**** sent me the first vote. That's just awesome.**

**Griffemon: Thanks! I was trying to stay pretty close to canon without warping characters or making things weird. Here's one pairing I may explore, although I might switch to Fyra or Kiona...or rather, Rinku might change his mind. Dark Link...hmmmm...maybe. Let's see if I can fit him in somewhere...**

**alfred pierce: I was actually aiming for some contrasting characters here. Two of them definitely will do some fighting, and, as I just said, there's a pairing in here, but I may end up pairing Rinku with one of my girls.**

**Kiona and Fyra meeting first seems to be pretty popular! I'll see how I can work that out.**

**Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own LOZ, or any affiliated characters or situations. I do, however, own my OCs.**

Rinku: Zelda's Birthday

"Impa, how much longer will we be walking for?" Rinku groaned. His mentor laughed.

"You've made this trip often enough. We just crossed the Bridge of Eldin. How much longer will we be walking for?" The only response she received was a muttered complaint.

"Wasn't bad enough you had to get me up at the crack of dawn," mumbled Rinku. "Now we're taking a thirteen-mile forced hike all the way to Castle Town." Impa caught his last sentence and chuckled.

"But at least you'll get to see Zelda, right?" Rinku flushed crimson, and pulled his cowl up over his face to hide it.

Rinku hated to admit it, but he'd had a crush on Zelda since the first time he'd met her, when they were ten years old. He'd never been outside the village before, but practically the first thing Impa did was drag him on this same hike to the castle to meet her other responsibility. Zelda had been an adorable ten-year-old, and she'd become a beautiful young woman. Rinku often found himself speechless when he was alone with her. Fortunately, she hadn't tried to push their friendship beyond what it was. If she had, Rinku felt he may have died from: a) excitement, b) embarrassment at his complete inability to think rationally, or c) pure shock.

"Three miles to go, you lazy Sheikah boy." Impa interrupted his thoughts.

"Good! I think my legs are going to fall off. Impa, could you remind me to stop at the smith's on the way to the castle? There's something I need to pick up."

"I'm assuming it's a birthday gift for Zelda." Rinku nodded yes, blushing even harder than before. Even though his face was mostly covered, the tips of his too-pointed ears must have turned red, because Impa took one look at him and burst out laughing.

A little over an hour later, the pair walked through the western gates of Castle Town. The small city was surprisingly beautiful for the largest settlement in Hyrule. The streets were always swept at the end of each day, and the lanterns along the roadside and on the houses were always trimmed and the glass clean. The citizens kept the facades of their homes and businesses clean too, so Castle Town gleamed with polished stone and painted wood. Hyrule Castle hovered over the city. Its soaring white marble parapets shone in the sunlight.

Rinku turned to his left and headed towards the smith's shop. He opened the door and padded softly to the counter. The smith, Garo, had his back to the door, and didn't notice Rinku's approach.

"Good morning, Garo." The burly smith jumped nearly a foot in the air.

"Good goddesses! Don't do that, Rinku. One of these days, you'll give this old man a heart attack." Rinku chuckled.

"That piece I requested. Is it finished?"

"Yep. Finished it yesterday." Garo pulled a satin-wrapped bundle out from under his leather smith's apron. He handed it to Rinku, who gently unwrapped it. Bright silver winked up at him from within the bundle. He smiled.

"So, Garo, how much do I owe you for this?" The smith scratched his dark beard.

"Well, ordinarily a piece like that would go for 300 rupees, but I have to pay the gem dealer for the stone. Semiprecious stones like that, in that size and quality, I pay about 150 for that. And since it's you, I'll knock off another 10. 140 rupees."

"No, I'll pay you the full 150 for it." Rinku insisted. He pulled one orange rupee and a purple one—worth 100 and 50 respectively—from his wallet, and placed them on the counter. He grinned mischievously. "You wouldn't deny a man the chance to haggle for a fair price, would you?"

The smith chuckled and swept the gemlike currency off the counter and into his hand. "Alright, I'll take it." Rinku beamed, tucking the bundle into his pouch. Garo hollered after him, "And good luck with that girl!"

Impa was waiting for him out in the street, leaning up against a wall and twirling her braid between her fingers. Without asking any questions, she rejoined him, and they headed up the road to the central plaza. From there, it was a quick walk up to Hyrule Castle. The guards at the gate recognized Impa immediately, and snapped to attention. She nodded politely to them before walking inside, with Rinku in tow.

"I shall go tell the king we are here," said Impa. "Would you go and find Zelda?" Rinku nodded.

"I know exactly where she'll be."

Rinku found Zelda right where he'd thought he'd find her, in the garden. The princess was perched on the edge of a marble bench, reading a book. Her long, dark auburn hair fell down her back in an elegant plait. Her white and lavender skirt was draped elegantly about her, and flowed gracefully from the bench to pool around her feet. Rinku knew she was wearing boots under her dress, though. She always did. He cleared his throat loudly.

"Your Highness, Lady Impa and her trainee have arrived at the castle." Zelda raised her head to look at him. Her violet eyes glimmered like amethyst.

"Rinku! You're back!" She leapt to her feet, dropping the book, and darted over to him. Before Rinku could brace himself, Zelda had caught him in a flying tackle-hug and knocked them both to the ground.

"Oof! Didn't anyone tell you it's not ladylike to tackle visitors?" he asked jokingly. Zelda laughed.

"Silly Rinku," she said affectionately, "Nobody cares if I tackle my best friend."

"Except you might get grass stains on your pretty skirt." Zelda howled with laughter.

"I missed you! What did you expect when you came back, a cake?"

"That would have been nice, but I know how it would have come out. You've never been near a kitchen in your life!"

"How do you know?"

"Because I've known you for most of it!" The princess blushed and got off of him.

"Okay, you win. Come on, let's go find Impa!" Zelda grabbed Rinku's arm and dragged him off through the garden.

They found Impa in the throne room. Rinku couldn't help but notice how out-of-place his mentor looked. Her dark blue Sheikah uniform, covered in a fine layer of brown dust from the road, was a startling contrast to the clean, well-dressed courtiers and the guards in their shining armor. She was saying, "…..have returned for the princess's birthday—" when Zelda slammed the doors open.

"Zelda!" the king roared, "how many times do I have to tell you that princesses do not interrupt meetings?!"

"But Papa," Zelda said innocently, "it is my guardian, after all. Surely I'm allowed to interrupt a meeting like this? Besides, I thought Impa might like to know I found Rinku." She gave her father the big-pleading-violet-eyes look, and his stern expression melted. Impa turned and smiled at her charges.

"You're looking well, princess. Although Rinku looks rather ruffled." She turned her ruby gaze on her trainee. "Haven't I taught you to clean yourself up before coming before royalty?"

"I was perfectly clean before she said hello, and then dragged me halfway through the castle." Rinku mumbled.

"Anyway," interrupted the king, "Rinku, I would like you to be Princess Zelda's escort to the ball in her honor tonight. Make sure you're wearing…." he paused, searching for the right word, "…suitable."

"Yes, sir!" said Rinku. He winked at Zelda, who giggled.

The ballroom was filled with nobles. Rinku stood at the door, feeling woefully inadequate. He was wearing his nicest trousers and a clean short tunic, but they looked shabby compared to the nobles, who were garbed in silks and satins. Zelda, who was—for once—wearing a pair of flats under her dress, slipped up beside him and clasped his hand.

"It's going to be fine, Rinku." she whispered.

"I hope." he whispered back. The trumpets blared a fanfare, and the pair entered the ballroom.

Immediately, the enormous room fell dead silent. Every single person turned and looked at Rinku and Zelda. The young Sheikah felt beads of sweat roll down the back of his neck. He felt the sudden urge to bolt for the nearest patch of shadow and hide there until everyone stopped staring. He glanced desperately at Impa. Impa nodded, and Rinku began escorting Zelda shakily down the stairs. When they reached the bottom, the musicians started playing again, and the nobles went back to dancing.

"See, that wasn't so bad, was it?" Zelda asked.

"It was worse. I _hate_ being stared at. And _every single person_ in the _entire room_ was staring at me. It was terrifying!" Zelda laughed.

"You're so silly, Rinku."

The ball eventually spilled out into the gardens, with the musicians following quickly to keep the dancing going. During the chaos, Rinku led Zelda away from the main gathering and down one of the narrow lanes of rose hedges.

"What did you want to meet out here for?" Zelda asked.

"I got you a gift for your birthday." Rinku replied. He pulled the satin-wrapped bundle from a hidden pouch in his belt and handed it to Zelda. "Here."

Zelda carefully unwrapped it. Inside the satin wrappings lay a necklace. A moonstone, carved in the shape of the Crest of Hylia—also known as the Goddess Crest—hung as a pendant on the end of a fine silver chain. Zelda looked up at him in astonishment.

"How did you afford this, Rinku? It must have cost—"

"One hundred and fifty rupees." Rinku cut in. "I found the moonstone myself, and I asked a friend in Castle Town to shape it and make a chain for it. I remembered that your favorite gem was moonstone, so when I found it I knew it would make a perfect present for you." He picked up the necklace and clasped it around Zelda's neck. "Perfect."

Zelda smiled at him. "It's the best present ever. Thank you." She put her arms around his neck and kissed him on the cheek.

**A/N: So, anyone like ZeldaxRinku? Want me to do some other pairings? Any other votes for different characters meeting first? Just tell me!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Aaaaand, Fyra's second chapter is up! She does a bit of cussing, but not ****_too_**** much. Hope I didn't offend anyone! Also, we meet her mother, who is a bit of a b****.**

**alfred pierce: Wow. You were the only one to review on my last chapter. Thanks, cute was what I was aimng for there! :3 Well, now that's two people who want Dark Link in there. I'll really have to figure out how to work him in there now. A pairing for Kiona...hmmm...I'm drawing a blank here. I appreciate your offer, and I might just take you up on it sometime! Thanks again!**

**As for my poll: I have three votes for Fyra and Kiona meeting first. That's going to be a bit tricky... Oh, well.**

**Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own LOZ, or any affiliated characters, situations, or locations. I do, however, own my OCs.**

Fyra: Fused Shadows

I sat curled up in my window seat, gazing out into the twilight. It was actually a beautiful place if you looked at it the right way. Around the Palace of Twilight, various portions of the city hung in the air like origami cranes on a baby's mobile. The Palace itself was on one large floating isle. We warped from floating island to floating island to get around, but my goddess-damned mother refused to let me leave ours. I often asked her—or, rather, yelled at her—that if I was so much of a disgrace, why didn't she let me leave? To which she would reply that, as feeble as my power was, the instant I left someone would murder me.

I was actually supposed to be reading a book on the history of the Twilight Realm and writing an essay on how the ruling dynasty had stayed in power so long, but the answer was really only two words long. _Stronger magic._ The royal family was only still in power because we were the strongest. So that's all I wrote on the paper—aside from me ranting about the stupidity of the assignment, classes, tutoring in general, and the royal family. I picked my essay up and read over it one more time.

_This is the most incredibly stupid assignment in the history of all stupid assignments. The royal family is utterly worthless, power-mongering, ineffective, and cares nothing for our subjects. The only reason we are still in power is because our twilight magic is stronger than anyone else's. The only ruler the people ever loved was Queen Midna because the rest of the royal family, before or since, has had our noses so far up in the air that we were totally inaccessible. Hence the stupidity of this damned assignment. May it suffer eternal mockery and pain in the Evil Realm._

I was certainly satisfied with my work. I threw the paper down and turned back to the window. My secret hope was that, while I looked away, the portal to the Light Realm would glow brilliantly and begin to work again. Every time I looked away, I always hoped that, and every time I looked back my hopes were dashed again. Damned nonfunctional portal. Damned broken Mirror of Twilight. Oh, well. I was going to head down to the palace basements tonight, to search for the Fused Shadows. I wanted to see them. To touch them. To run my hands over them and feel the ancient power thrumming within them.

* * *

I lay awake in bed for a long time, until I was certain everyone was asleep. Then, I slid soundlessly from my bed, at once cursing and grateful for the stone floor of my bedchamber. Stone didn't creak like wood did. My bare feet padded softly on the floor as I walked to my doorway. Fortunately, my door-hinges had been oiled recently. They whispered softly open.

I decided to take a back stairway. Even though everyone slept, I wasn't entirely sure I wouldn't run into someone on the way to the privy or to the kitchen for a midnight snack. The back stairs were empty, and there was a very fine layer of dust on the floor. They hadn't been used in a while. Good.

The basement was two stories down from the bottom floor of my tower. It was dank and musky. Twin rushlights hung just inside the doorway, illuminating a few feet into the gloom. They left too much to the imagination for my comfort. I reached up and carefully removed one from its holder. After a quick glance back over my shoulder, I headed into the darkness. The dank, humid, musky darkness that hid way too much.

* * *

It's amazing how quickly any normal person goes from completely calm to jumping at everything when you put them in a dark basement with only a torch for illumination. Particularly when they've come to said basement to find a group of incredibly powerful, ancient artifacts that should never be used except under extreme circumstances. Barely a minute after I entered the basement, I was squeaking at every half-glimpsed shadow. I felt like I had been wandering in the basement forever when I found a door. I stopped dead in front of it. From behind the door, intense power reached out and struck me in the core. This was it. The Fused Shadows were behind this door.

"Open." I commanded. Nothing happened.

"Open…..please." Still nothing.

"Open sesame." Nothing.

"Unseal."

"Unfasten."

"Let me in!" _Still_ the door refused to open.

"Argh! Damn this stupid door to eternal mockery and pain in the Evil Realm!" The door rumbled open. I stared in surprise.

"Midna had a sense of humor," I mumbled to myself. Clutching my torch tightly, I entered the room.

The Fused Shadows hovered in the center of the room, slowly moving in a circle. They were deep grey, and looked as if they had been carved from stone. They were large enough that an imp-sized being could use them as armor. I stepped forward, transfixed. I could feel the pulsating thrum of their power deep in my bones, and something within me resonated with it. It was pleasant, yet uncomfortable at the same time. I was maybe an inch from touching one, the one Midna had supposedly used as a helm, when someone cleared their throat behind me.

"Just _what_ do you think you're doing, young lady?" I sighed, then turned to face my mother.

She stood in the doorway, hands on her hips and glaring. She was wearing her most disapproving expression. Her red hair was down, flowing across her shoulders and down to her hips. Her red-gold eyes were narrowed.

"You should be in bed now, Fyra. Not messing with things that do not belong to you."

"Whatever." I snorted. "I don't care." Her expression darkened.

"Fyra, go to bed. Now!"

"No."

"Now!"

"No way in the Evil Realm. Wild kargaroks couldn't drag me." My mother marched over, grabbed me by the ear, and began dragging me out of the room.

"That's it, Fyra. You are GROUNDED for the next month! I don't want to see your face outside of your rooms until a month is up!"

She dragged me up five stories in disapproving, angry silence. When we got to my door, she threw it open and shoved me inside. I landed on my knees on the floor, scraping them raw. She slammed the door shut behind be, and the lock on the outside clicked into place a moment later. I picked myself up and ran to my bed. I pulled my covers up over my head, and, curling up into a little ball of misery, I began sobbing.

"If any of the deities are listening right now," I gasped between sobs, "and if any of you care, please, just grant me this one favor. Get me out of here." I think I cried myself to sleep.

**A/N: Poor Fyra. Don't worry, her luck changes in her next chapter. Do you ever feel like torturing your characters, even though you don't really want to and like them too much to hurt them? That's how I feel right now.**

**On the subject of Dark Link, if/when he makes an appearance, what side do you want him on: good or evil? Should he switch sides partway through? Please send me a review-I know more than just three people are reading this!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Okay, I was ****_trying _****to amp up the suspense a bit here...but I think I may have failed. Dark Link is a ****_really _****popular character, I may have to add him in. I have had a suggestion for KionaxDark, but I'm not sure...what do you think?**

**Griffemon: I do kind of like that idea...but I'm not sure. The pairing ****_would_**** be interesting... But you're right, some of those scenarios are overused. And I already have plenty of potential pairings for Rinku, I don't think we need another. But if I get stuck (i.e. temple bosses) I might ask you for help. Thanks!**

**Frog nut: Hey, haven't you reviewed on one of my other stories? I know how you feel about the overwhelming numbers of boy heroes to girl heroes, but we ****_do_**** live in a patriarchal society where girls are supposed to be weak and helpless. Not in this story!**

**LEva114: It's okay, stuff gets lost in my inbox, too. Yeah...probably could have dragged out the fight, but I was TIRED when I wrote it. The idea of Dark as a sympathetic antagonist, though...kinda like Shiek on the OOT manga: sort of a double agent. You never know who's side he's REALLY on.**

**Disclaimer: I wish I owned Zelda, I really do. Sadly, all I own are my OCs.**

Kiona: The Shadows Are Rising

Kiona finished with the goats earlier than most people would have. Getting them to leave the barn was easy, even first thing in the morning. All you had to do was open the barn doors and unlatch their stalls. The hardest part was avoiding being trampled. A stampeding goat—particularly an Ordon goat, which grew to the size of the average pony—was not something you wanted to stand in front of. Ever.

The clearing was empty, as usual, but other presences still hung in the air. Someone had been there, as recently as the night before. Kiona glanced about nervously, but, seeing no one, transformed anyway. She padded soundlessly into the forest. No aimless wandering today, there was someone she had to visit.

* * *

Kiona stopped at the entrance to the den, a doe's haunch in her jaws. She placed the leg on the ground and called quietly to the den's inhabitant.

**"Babbi? Are you in there?"**

**"Kiona? It is Kiona, isn't it? Come in, Daughter."**

Kiona lifted the haunch and padded inside. The den was cool, the floor dry and sandy. Her vision quickly adjusted to the dimness within. Close to the back of the den lay a somewhat bedraggled furry hummock. The shape lifted, shifting in the gloom until it revealed itself to be another puma. His fur was somewhat patchy, his face covered with silver hairs. Golden eyes were covered with a misty film, but still keen. He was old for a puma, Kiona estimated him at perhaps eighteen winters.

**"I see you have brought me a gift, Daughter."** His voice was not a low growl, but more of an elderly housecat's raspy purr.

**"I have, Babbi."** Kiona replied, placing the haunch at his paws. His black-tipped tail twitched.

**"Thank you. Now, tell me what is happening these days."**

**"Lots. You might want to sit down, this may take a while."**

* * *

When afternoon sunlight began pouring through the entrance to the den, the pair moved to enjoy the sunlight. Kiona's cappuccino-colored fur brushed Babbi's sandy pelt. They sat in the sort of silence enjoyed by old friends whose company is all the other needs. Kiona stood, stretching and yawning.

**"I ought to go, Babbi. The two-leggers will wonder where I've been all day."** The old puma glanced at the position of the sun.

**"Yes, I suppose I have kept you a long time."** Kiona began padding out, but Babbi's next words stopped her.

**"Before you go, Daughter, there is something I must tell you."**

**"What is it?"**

**"The wheel of fate turns again, and the shadows rise. I believe you may have an important role to play in the days to come."**

**"What do you mean?"**

**"Remember your ancestor, Daughter."**

**"My….ancestor?"**

**"He was the greatest wolf of all."**

Kiona stared at Babbi for a long time, but he refused to elaborate. Eventually, she padded out of his den and into the woods. She transformed on the way back to the main road into town, and, moving automatically, finished her chores up at the goat ranch. Babbi's last words ran through her mind: _he was the greatest wolf of all….._ He couldn't mean who she thought he meant…..could he? He couldn't _possibly_ mean the Hero of Twilight.

**A/N: I am CLOSING MY POLL on which characters meet first TWO DAYS after the next chapter gets posted. I know there are more than just four people reading this, so PLEASE vote! What happens in chapter 7 will be the same regardless, but the events in chapters 8 & 9 will be greatly affected by the results of this poll.**

**We stand at 3 for Kiona and Fyra meeting first and 1 for Rinku and Kiona meeting first. I repeat: the poll closes two days after next chapter is posted. Get those votes in!**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Here's the moment we've all been waiting for: Rinku's trial as a Sheikah warrior! I apologize for my lack of originality when it comes to...oops! Nearly gave you a spoiler, eh? Wouldn't want that!**

**Griffemon: Yeah, last chapter was really just a filler. I used puma to differentiate her from TP Link-good catch there!-and also from characters in my other multichapter story, which, by the way, I might be deleting. But...by chupathingies, do you by any chance mean chupacabras?**

**Disclaimer: I do not own LOZ, or any affiliated characters, situations, locations, dungeons, bosses, weapons, etc. I only own my OCs.**

Rinku: Trials and Tribulations

Rinku lay awake in bed for what felt like ages. He gazed up at the low, beamed ceiling above him with a troubled expression on his face. The previous day, he had hiked back from Castle Town—alone. Zelda had all but begged Impa to stay at the castle, just for a day, and Impa couldn't refuse those pleading amethyst eyes. Tomorrow was his final test, and he was scared stiff. _What if I can't get through it? What if all this training I've done has been for nothing? I've only got one shot at this, I _can't_ blow it!_

Rinku shoved off his blanket and padded outside on silent feet. He wandered the village streets, all dark, all silent, until he came to the village shrine to the Goddesses of Hyrule. It was a long, low altar, with four candles on it: one red, representing Din; one blue, representing Nayru; one green, representing Farore; and one white, representing Hylia. He arranged the candles in the shape of the Triforce, placing Hylia's candle in the center. He then lit them in order: red, blue, green, white. Then, Rinku knelt before the altar and prayed.

"Din, lend me your power to get me through the trial ahead. Nayru, lend me your wisdom, that I may see through the deceptions within the trial. Farore, lend me your courage, that I may face whatever lies ahead without faltering." He paused for breath. "Hylia, patron goddess of the Sheikah, I beg your blessings in my trial. If I am truly worthy of being a Sheikah warrior, guide me through this trial of the shadows with your light."

Rinku knelt there for a while, his forehead resting on the cool stone of the altar. Behind him, feet shuffled the gravel of the path to the shrine.

"Rinku? What are you doing out here?" Rinku got to his feet and turned to see Ria. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, blonde braid swaying with her movements. Her crimson eyes glittered in the moonlight.

"I was praying," Rinku said softly. "I can't do this on my own. No one can." Ria smiled at him.

"If Jaren can do it, you definitely can. He can barely walk ten steps without tripping over his own feet. But if you don't sleep tonight, the monsters in the temple will eat you as a snack!" Rinku chuckled.

"Silly Ria, there haven't been any monsters in there since the Hero of Time killed them all."

"Maybe some have moved back in."

"Then why wasn't Jaren a little snack for the Stalfos?"

"He would be more like dinner. _You'd_ be the snack."

"Thank you for your faith in my abilities," Rinku said sarcastically, "I feel really loved right now."

"You should," Ria replied, laughing, "You should. But go to bed, Rinku!"

"Fine, I will." Rinku muttered. He stepped past Ria and made his way back to his house. He clambered through his window and collapsed on his bed. He was sound asleep by the time his head hit his pillow.

* * *

Rinku woke early the next morning. He sighed heavily. This was the day all his hard training—six years of it—bore fruit, and Impa wouldn't be there to see him off. His mentor, the most important person in his life, would not be there to see him pass from one stage into another. Rinku wished she was there. His trial began an hour after dawn. He glanced out the window. The dim, grey predawn light filtering through the slightly warped glass told him just how early he was up. Rinku groaned and fell back on his pillow.

"Why the heck do I wake up so early?" he grumbled. "I don't have to be up 'til dawn."

* * *

Half an hour after dawn, Rinku waited by the birch in the center of the village. The elders and mentor always met the warrior-to-be there, and escorted him or her to the old village near the foot of the mountain. From there, the mentor took their trainee to the old graveyard, to the entrance to the ancient Shadow Temple. The temple had been empty of monsters for five hundred years, so the trainee's only task was to find a way around the traps within, make it to the old boss chamber, and find the warp point to escape. Once he or she exited the temple, they returned to the village in triumph to receive their tattoo. It was deceptively simple. Over a hundred trainees had never emerged from the temple.

The elders—three elderly men and five elderly women—arrived at the tree not long after he did, and silently escorted him two miles down the mountain, to the old village.

Before the Sheikah had inhabited the village, it had been known as Kakariko. A hundred years after the passing of the Hero of Time, the village well had dried up completely, and the population had been forced to move to the present location. But the village itself wasn't the trial. Rather, the temple entrance was concealed on a cliff above the ancient graveyard behind the village. The ancient Shadow Temple.

Rinku stared up the cliff to the ledge where the entrance to the Shadow Temple lay in darkness. The first part of the test was seeing if the trainee could make it up the cliff to the entrance. From there, his or her test took place beyond the supervision of their mentor and the elders. He took a deep breath and grabbed ahold of the stone. All Sheikah had an innate sense of where to place their feet for the best grip and speediest climb, and Rinku was no exception. He climbed swiftly up the rock face and swung himself up onto the ledge. From below, the elders watched him. Their red eyes, whether filmed over by cataracts or sharp and clear, watched him intently. He waved goodbye and slipped inside.

* * *

Mere moments after Rinku entered the temple, Impa dashed into the graveyard.

"What….what are you doing here?" she gasped, still winded from her run. "I got your messenger bird; you said that the temple was Awakened…..No. You didn't. You couldn't have….."

"Couldn't have what?"

"Couldn't have sent Rinku into that death trap." The elders stared at her calmly. Impa's eyes widened in horror.

"You sent him in there?! But he'll die!"

"He is the incarnate."

"He can't be! The Incarnate is always a Hylian!"

"The only other descendant could not possibly be the Incarnate. It has to be him."

"No!" Impa fell to her knees, burying her face in her hands. Her slender shoulders shook with sobs. Her trainee, sent into the Awakened Shadow Temple because the elders thought he was the Incarnate and this was the only viable way to test it. Only the Incarnate could possibly survive the Awakened temples. Any others who entered would perish. Rinku would never make it out alive.

* * *

Rinku rolled under the spinning blades of a scythe-like trap in the center of the room. He hadn't been expecting the monsters lurking in the corridors—everything he'd been led to believe said that the Shadow Temple was _empty_, but apparently that wasn't the case. He slid a key from a hidden pocket on the side of his dagger sheath and put it into the lock on the door. It turned surprisingly smoothly. The lock fell off the door, striking the floor with a metallic clang. Rinku shoved it open.

The instant h was through, the door slammed shut and metal bars dropped in front of it, slamming to the ground with a finality that Rinku didn't like. It was a small, circular, empty room. There was a door across from him, but it too was blocked with metal bars.

"What the heck?" Rinku muttered. "You've got to be kidding me. Who designs a temple with a room that's inescapable?" He was looking at the ceiling for a potential exit when he heard a clattering of bones from behind him. Rinku whirled about, to find himself nose-to-aperture with a Stalfos. He sprang backwards and away from it, taking up a defensive pose.

The Stalfos shuffled backwards as well, presenting him with the round, spiked face of its shield. Its sword glowed red-hot. Twin coals filled long-empty eye sockets. It seemed to glare at him. Rinku felt the hair on the back of his neck stand straight up. The night before, running into a Stalfos in the temple had been something to laugh and joke about with Ria. Now it was a lethal reality, with the monster standing before him in all its terrifying skeletal glory. It shuffled toward him, slashing with its blade. Rinku barely dodged, skipping out of the way. The monster pursued him with slow, shuffling steps.

Rinku wore himself out much more quickly than he would have liked. He couldn't get close enough to attack, and the only blade he was armed with was a six-inch dagger in a sheath on his thigh. The Stalfos, on the other hand, didn't seem to be affected. It merely continued that slow, purposeful shuffle, as though it had all the time and energy in the world to kill him in. When Rinku finally stopped for breath, the Stalfos caught up to him. With inhuman strength, the fiend smashed him against the wall. Rinku slammed against it and slid to the floor, to lie there in a dazed and crumpled heap. He lacked the comprehension to get up. The Stalfos loomed over him, raising its blade for one final deathblow. It let out a low clattering, obviously savoring its victory. That was when Rinku noticed a glint of steel in the corner of the room. He recognized it as the blade of a sword.

As the Stalfos let its deathblow fall, Rinku made his last desperate bid for survival. He rolled away from the blow, over to the sword. As he rolled back upright, his hands closed around the hilt. The sword was far heavier than he'd thought, an immense two-handed sword rather than the single-handed blades preferred by the castle guards. He lifted the sword into a defensive position, just barely deflecting the Stalfos's next strike.

The next blow was Rinku's. His sword slashed off the Stalfos's shield arm, before he lunged for the main body. He slashed off a leg, and, before he realized exactly what he was doing, slashed the sword around him in a spinning attack. The whirling blade chopped the Stalfos to pieces, but the momentum of the massive blade kept Rinku spinning long after his foe collapsed and burst into ash and smoke. When he finally stopped spinning, Rinku lifted the blade to eye level and studied it.

"Dinssake, this thing is heavy!" He ran a bandaged finger along the edge. "Still sharp, too." He paused a moment as the bars over the doors hissed back up into the ceiling.

"I may as well keep it. Who knows when I'll run into another Stalfos." A pause. "And the owner _probably_ doesn't need it anymore." And, slinging the heavy blade over his shoulder, Rinku padded out of the room.

* * *

Perhaps an hour later, Rinku turned the boss key in the lock on the door to the boss chamber. He was thoroughly exhausted. His arms and legs were bruised from hitting monsters—and accidentally hitting himself with the flat of the sword. A four inch gash on his left calf was the result of not being quick enough to dodge a set of steel spikes that smashed down on him from the ceiling. And a long cut running from just below his right eye to his jaw was from another scythe trap that had _just_ caught him mid-leap. But he knew he was nearly done. All that was left to do was find the warp point and get out. He pushed the door open and jumped down the hole in the floor into the boss chamber below.

When Rinku hit the floor, he was bounced back up into the air. His bounce was accompanied by a sound like someone hitting a massive drum. When he finally stopped bouncing, he found out that the floor was, in fact, the surface of an enormous drum. He had just gotten back to his feet when _something_ slammed into the drum to his left, launching him back into the air. Rinku twisted and saw, much to his shock and horror, a giant disembodied hand drumming against the floor. A quick glance to the right revealed another hand. And when Rinku looked up, he saw a gigantic decapitated torso floating in midair. A giant eyeball was embedded in the neck stump.

Suddenly, the left hand swiped at Rinku, aiming to snatch him up. He barely dodged it, and lobbed a needle after the hand. When the needle connected, the hand turned an alarming shade of blue and stopped moving. Rinku hurled another needle at the second hand, also stunning it. The needles dislodged as the main torso shot down from the ceiling toward him. Thinking fast, Rinku threw a third needle. It embedded itself in the monster's eye. The torso collapsed, and Rinku darted over and instinctively slashed at the eye with his sword. The fiend reared backwards, somehow letting out a shriek of agony.

After that, the monster's attacks came faster and harder. While one hand set up an increasingly speedy tempo on the drum-floor, the other grabbed for Rinku, attempting to hurl him of the edge and into a poisonous sludge that surrounded the drum. Despite his exhaustion, Rinku dodged most of the attacks. Still, after three rounds of stunning the hands and then slicing at the eye, Rinku was utterly burned out. He hurled a final needle into the beast's eye and slashed at it. A second slash followed. The third one slashed the eye open, pouring eyeball fluids on the drum and drenching Rinku as well. Both hands and torso burst into ash and smoke, leaving Rinku standing, alone, at the center of the chamber, the sword hanging limply from his hands. He dropped the blade and took two steps forward. On the third step, his knees gave out and he collapsed to the floor.

* * *

"It's been far too long. I won't wait any longer! I'm going in after Rinku!" Impa shouted. One of the elders, Krisha, caught her arm as Impa stormed over to where the exit for the warp point shone as a blue circle on the ground.

"Impa, consider your actions before you go through with them. If he is not the Incarnate, you are sacrificing yourself for one already dead."

"And if he is?" Impa countered fiercely. "I don't care! I will not abandon my trainee to die in there!" She ripped her arm free from Krisha's grip and strode over to the warp point. The instant she stepped into the circle, she was warped into the temple.

Impa only remembered that the warp lead into the boss chamber after she was in. She glanced about, frantically trying to catch a glimpse of the boss but seeing nothing. Then, her eyes caught on something: a heap on the floor. It was hard to tell in the gloom, but the heap was roughly the color of Rinku's Sheikah uniform. Impa's red eyes widened, and she raced over to it. She reached the heap, which she had identified as Rinku halfway there, and knelt beside him. Impa heaved a sigh of relief when she realized he was still breathing. She slid one arm under his knees, and supported his shoulders with the other. Grunting with the unexpected weight of her unconscious trainee, she stumbled to the warp point and left the boss chamber. The sword Rinku had found, used, and then dropped lay in the center of the boss chamber, its silvery edge already crusting over with the eyeball fluid of the monster.

**A/N: Good Goddesses, this may be my longest chapter yet! I blame Rinku for this. It's all his fault! Remember, I take my poll down two days after this update. Anyone with an opinion, vote now! I take votes through reviews, too!**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Wow, have I been off for a while or what? I forget what exactly I did, but my parents grounded me for A WHOLE MONTH. It stunk. But I am back! Woohooo!**

**Chaos god of balance: Griffemon, is that you? If you keep changing your penname, I may never know who's a new reviewer and who's been here since practically the beginning.**

**alfred pierce: Yes, Impa does care, in a sort of an older-sister-from-your-father's-first-marriage kind of way, or maybe like an aunt...she's been in charge of Rinku since he was ten, so naturally she would care, very much so. I'm glad you think my chapter was kickass, I worked hard on the fight scenes. And here's the next one-albeit very late.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own LOZ, or any affiliated chatacters, locations, situations, etc. I do, however, own my OCs.**

Fyra: A New World

I stared glumly at my wall. Grounding _sucked_. I had considered my room spacious, but it felt like the walls closed in on me the longer I stayed in here. Even though I knew it was twenty feet from the wall by back was pressed to over to the window on the opposite wall, it felt like I could reach out and touch it. Taking a deep breath, I gathered my magic and warped myself over to the window. That's right, _warped_.

Despite that my mother had forbidden me to ever warp, I'd been practicing since I woke up. Not like she could possibly do anything _worse_ than confining me to my room for a month. That's about how far I look ahead, anyway. For me, a month is forever.

"Take that, you rotten bitch. I'm learning to warp all by myself. And as soon as I get good enough, I'll warp myself right out of here and never have to see you again. Ha." I warped back over to my starting place, and from there to my bed. It was actually easier than I'd been expecting, really. I couldn't wait til I was good enough to warp out.

* * *

The day stretched on for forever. Each hour was like a day in itself. But, finally, night fell, the twilit sky outside my window darkening fractionally and the bells ringing to signal nightfall. I waited one more long, torturous hour before getting out of bed. My mother probably had guards stationed outside my room to prevent my escape, but even she couldn't have predicted my self-taught warping skills. I was going to leave, but I was taking those Fused Shadows with me. I took a deep breath, then warped myself down to the basements.

I landed right outside the door to the chamber of the Fused Shadows.

"Damn this stupid door to eternal mockery and pain in the Evil Realm!" The door rumbled open. I stepped inside.

Somehow, the room felt different from before. It practically hummed with shadow energies. The Fused Shadows spun in the center of the room, throwing off red-orange shadows. They swirled even faster as I stepped closer. The one that Midna had used as her helm floated from the spiral, over to me. I raised my hand and touched it.

The surface was cold, and as smooth as time-worn stone. It hummed under my touch. Then, it and the others burst into a thousand shimmering fragments of twilight, before converging on me. I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing myself for whatever safety mechanism this was to obliterate me, but it never came. Instead, when I opened my eyes, the shapes of the Fused Shadows glowed around me, before my hair transfigured and snatched them up. Just as they vanished, the entire palace rumbled. I panicked and warped myself back into my room.

* * *

The second my vision returned, I knew something was off. Pinkish-white light glowed through my windows. This strange illumination flickered and glared, throwing shadows everywhere. Everything in me screamed at me to run away, but I darted to the window instead. Below me, on the platform, the pattern of the portal was too bright to look at. _This can't be happening—Midna destroyed the portal when she destroyed the Mirror!_ But it was. As I watched, the design reflected itself into the sky and a shimmering set of stairs reached partway up to it. The last step was a circular platform. My gut clenched. _This is my chance! To the Light World!_

I warped myself down to the original platform and bounded up the steps. Behind me, a door flew open.

"Stop Princess Fyra from using that portal! Now!" I recognized my mother's voice. Several sets of footsteps rushed after me. I didn't care. They couldn't stop me.

The glowing steps were cold under the pads of my bare feet. I leapt up them, two at a time. My feet landed on the second step from the top when a hand reached out and caught me by the back of my tunic.

"Going somewhere, Princess?"

"Let go of me, you slimy bastard! I'm not going back! Never! Let…me…go!" With that last shout, I kicked the guard….in a most unfortunate place. He was too busy doubling over and moaning to stop me. I jumped up onto the top step. The instant my feet touched it, I burst into shadow particles.

* * *

This warp was _nothing_ like what I had practiced in my room all day. Instead of instant here-there, this was here-pulling-pushing-squeezing-yanking-explosion-t here. I landed heavily on a hot slab of stone, with light—_light!_—glaring in my face. I stared around in awe.

I was at the top of some sort of building in the heart of a desert. Golden sand stretched around me for as far as I could see. Behind me, the portal hummed and died. I turned to see the pinkish-silver light fade against the massive black monolith the portal emerged from in the Light Realm. I turned to look back out at the desert. Suddenly, to my shock and horror, the light began to wane from brilliant gold to a Twilight-esque orange. My eyes widened. _Oh, goddesses. What have I _done_?!_ In my panic, I accidentally warped.

When my sight returned after my warp, I choked back a scream. I was eye-to-eye with a big, blue-furred creature with huge, curving horns.

**A/N: Ahahaha, cliffie! *shot* Anyone familiar with Twilight Princess? Try and guess where Fyra landed! Hehehehe. Poor Fyra. She thinks she ruined the Light Realm** **by coming through the portal... Anyway, I will begin work on the next chapter the second I ost this, so it may be out later tonight or tomorrow morning.**

**By the way: HAPPY SUMMER VACATION!**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: And I have already broken my word. I'm so sorry. The last few days have been pretty busy for me, because my parents are dragging me on a month-long camping odyssey in three days. Oh joy. I'm taking my computer, but my updates will be irregular because I'll only be able to update when I have internet access. Also, I deleted The Fated Three. I just...lost interest. On the other hand, I discovered ****_Tsubasa_****, so I may be doing a fic for that. Manga makes me happy. By the way, correct guessers for my last question get virtual cookies.**

**Chaos god of balance: Yay, I guessed correctly! And cookies for you!**

**alfred pierce: Cookies for you, too! Enjoy your break-inspiration does seem to come more easily when you aren't stuck in school all day, doesn't it?**

**thehomiewhowrites: New reviewer, yay! Wait...reviewer, fav-er, and follower? Yippee! Thanks! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own LOZ, or any affiliated characters, locations or situations. I only own my Ocs.**

Kiona: Something Old, Something New

Kiona heard the scream halfway down the trail to the ranch. Her eyes widened. One of the kids must have gotten into the goat pens and riled one up….again. That whole moon-cycle, she had constantly been chasing those kids out of the pens because Maro had decided it sounded like a good idea to chase the goats. She sprinted up the trail. If those kids had angered the ram, they were in big trouble. Even _she_ didn't want to tangle with him, and she was the most experienced herder in the village.

She vaulted over the gate to the pasture, her heart in her throat. Kiona looked frantically around the field, fully expecting to see one of the kids running around like a cucco with its head cut off while the ram chased them. Instead, every single goat was clustered by one side of the pasture, staring at something in the middle of the ring. The something screamed shrilly, and Kiona grabbed the shepherd's crook from the fence—they always kept one in the pen—and walked over to the goat cluster.

"Oy, move it!" she cried, shoving the massive, blue-furred animals out of her way. "Get on out of here! Go on, get!" The goats turned tail and loped toward the barn. Kiona turned her attention to the whatever-it-was the goats had been investigating.

The 'whatever-it-was' turned out to be an odd-looking teenage girl. Kiona estimated her at about sixteen. Flame-hued hair pulled loose from her bedraggled ponytail. Her eyes were ambery-gold, and wide with fear. Strangest of all was her skin, which was marbled cream and deep grey. Symbols had been tattooed on her arms in shimmering blue ink. Kiona found herself blushing. The girl's tunic was _extremely_ short. The girl stared. Kiona stared back.

"Where the hell am I?!" The girl suddenly exclaimed. Kiona jumped. She hadn't known what to expect, but swearing wasn't one of them.

"Ordon Ranch, in the Ordona Province of Hyrule." Kiona replied.

"So I'm in the Light Realm after all," The girl mused. She looked up at the sky, which had faded to blue-black and was beginning to show stars, like a trader unwrapping diamonds from a velvet wrapping. "Phew. Guess I didn't bring Twilight with me after all. That's a little luck, at least."

"Wait a moment," Kiona said. "Who are you? How did you get here—I didn't see you come up the road, and that's the only way in here. And just what are you?"

"Whoa! Loads of questions already, and you're only the first Light person I've met! I'm Fyra, I warped here, and I'm a Twili."

Kiona stared for a moment before things began to click into place. Twili—that was the tribe the companion (some said lover) of the Hero of Twilight came from. What had her name been? Midna, that was it.

"Twili…..like the tribe in the legends of the Hero of Twilight?" Fyra's amber eyes widened.

"You have those legends here too?"

"Of course! Ordon was the birthplace of the Hero of Twilight, after all. But how are you here? At the end of the legend, the Twilight Princess breaks the Mirror of Twilight and the portal."

"I don't know, but somehow the portal on our side activated and I came through." Kiona looked back towards the gate. The goats had run back into the barn, so she supposed her duties at the ranch had been completed. She turned back to Fyra.

"I guess you're going to have to come with me, then. Most of the other villagers may not be so amiable towards a Twili. They prefer that legends actually stay in the stories, after all." Fyra laughed.

"Alright. I'll come with you. But I want to see as much of this world as I can, so I probably won't stay long, okay?"

"Fine by me," Kiona replied.

Kiona was up early the next morning. She was on herding duty, and the goats had been rather skittish all week. This morning, they wouldn't even listen to her when she yelled at them to leave their stalls. In exasperation, she borrowed the village horse, a dun stallion named Kafé, to try and force them out. That worked, at last. With the goats handled, she headed into town to visit with some of the villagers—in particular, the village swordsman Jakob. She'd been training with him for years, and she'd had a session scheduled for that morning—that is, until she'd broken her training sword during their last practice. He'd said he would fix it by their next practice. She walked over to his door and knocked on it. The door swung open.

"Mornin', Kiona." Jakob said. His black hair was mussed, and he still looked somewhat sleepy.

"Morning, Jakob! Is my sword fixed?" The swordsman laughed.

"That's your only interest, eh? No, 'how's the family?', just 'is my sword fixed?'. Guess I know who the next village guardian is, yeah?" Kiona blushed.

"Well, is it fixed?"

"Yep. But no training this mornin'. I'm sending you in them woods today. Them monsters've been getting awful restless lately. Feel like handlin' em?"

"Sure!"

Jakob handed her her training sword. Unlike the first weapon she'd received for training, which had been wood, this was actual metal. The edges were duller than a regular blade, but would work just fine for killing a few monsters. Kiona looked it over and beamed at her mentor.

"A real blade? You're giving me a real sword?!"

"Eh, it's not quite as sharp as a real one, but I figured you'd be ready fer it. Go on, get! Kill some monsters."

"Thank you!" Kiona called over her shoulder as she raced up the road toward her house. She had to change her shoes. Sandals were fine for around the village, but you needed boots in the woods. She burst through the door, surprising Fyra. The Twili jumped.

"What the heck are you all fired up about?" Fyra asked.

"I'm going monster hunting! Care to come with?" Kiona exclaimed, her emerald eyes lit with excitement.

"I guess," Fyra replied. Kiona yanked on her boot, leaped back to her feet, grabbed Fyra by the arm, and towed her out the door.

The pair jogged up the road, past the Spirit's Spring, and over the bridge into Faron Woods. The instant they were on the other side, Kiona and Fyra found themselves faced with an enormous gang of bokoblins.

"Well, shit." said Fyra.

"Looks like we have some fighting to do." Kona agreed. Then, unsheathing her sword, she charged the group.

**A/N: Kiona seems to go through a lot of mood swings, doesn't she? Oops, I left you with another cliffie-and the next chapter is Rinku's...oops. *shot* Anyway, the enigmas I left in his last chapter will be cleared up, like what, exactly the 'Incarnate' is, and why the 'other descendant' couldn't be the Incarnate. I'm going to try to post it before we go camping, but I might not make it...**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Well, I finally finished the chapter and got somewhere with wifi, so here it is: chapter 10. Wow, already ten chapters to this thing? Dang! Well, I guess I owe some thank-you's.**

**First round of thanks goes to everyone who reviewed on this story. You are the ones who drive me to post this here, really. I owe you a big one. Thanks to: LEva114, alfred pierce, Chaos god of balance, frog nut, thehomiewhowrites, maiakanaya, DemonicPrincess Mary Nightmare, and smilesman.**

**Second round of thanks goes to everyone who has favorited or followed this story. I owe you pretty big, too. Thanks to: Blue Power 1, Chaos god of balance, DemonicPrincess Mary Nightmare, LEva114, PhoenixLyric, RheaTheWingedWolf, maiakanaya, shadowmwape, smilesman, thehomiewhowrites, Pantherstar101, and last but not least, alfred pierce.**

**Thirdly, I owe Rinku a thank-you for getting me to draw him and then refusing to let me be, and to my exceedingly boring Spanish class for giving me the perfect environment to create Fyra and Kiona in.**

**maiakanaya: Thank you! I've been trying to blend all the myths and legends of Hyrule into a coherent tapestry of lore in my head, and then weave it into this story for depth and history that a real place would have. I can't wait to find the end of this either, the characters just do what they want.**

**DemonicPrincess Mary Nightmare: Thanks!**

**smilesman: Actually, I have read part of ****_The Smallest Shred_****, but FyraxDark wasn't really a pairing I'd been considering. But I may think about it now!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own LOZ, or any affiliated characters, locations, or situations. I only own my OCs.**

Rinku: Incarnations

_He was in a stone chamber. The floor and walls both looked like marble. The chamber was rectangular, with steps leading up to a pedestal on the far side. A pair of figures stood flanking the pedestal, and something that flashed silver stuck out of it. He walked toward it. The closer he got, the slower he felt like he was moving._

_ When he arrived at the foot of the steps, he stopped. The figures were a pair of young men, Hylians, both of them. The one on the right had blonde hair and bright cerulean eyes. The one on the left had light brown hair and blue-grey, wolf-like eyes. Both wore green tunics and long, floppy hats. He walked up the steps toward them, stopping again at the top of the stairs and looked at them, almost like he expected them to say something. The one on the left nodded to him, and the one on the right gestured to the pedestal. The most beautiful sword he had ever seen was thrust into it. The blade was blued steel, the hilt purple and sweeping up around the blade like a pair of wings. Then he noticed movement on the opposite side of the blade._

_ A girl. Short, cappuccino colored hair framed her tanned face and glimmering emerald eyes. Her ears stuck out—another Hylian. For a moment, they stood, face to face, neither moving. Then, she smiled at him. Simultaneously, they reached for the sword and drew it, together…_

Rinku snapped awake, his head jerking up as he reflexively tensed in preparation to either fight or run. He glanced around, relieved to find that he was back in his own house, rather than in the Shadow Temple or the chamber from his dream. He eased himself into a sitting position, wincing at the soreness in his muscles—particularly his arms, which ached. The door opened, revealing Impa. Her face broke out in a relieved smile, and the Sheikah woman entered and sat down in a chair by Rinku's bed.

"How do you feel?" she asked.

"Like I got trampled by a bublo." Rinku replied. Impa chuckled.

"That's understandable, considering what you went through yesterday."

Rinku blinked in confusion. "Wait, that was _yesterday?!_ Then…" Rinku's eyes widened. "I didn't make it out of the temple. I've failed the trial…..my only chance, and I've gone and blown it!" His throat constricted, and tears of dismay filled his eyes. Much to his shock, Impa burst out laughing. "What's so funny? I've failed to pass the trial, and you've failed as a mentor….."

"On the contrary. You may have failed the trial, but you have accomplished far more in there than any have done in that temple in the last five centuries—since the Hero of Time." Impa sighed. "This is going to be hard to explain. Rinku, you remember the legends of the Heroes, right?"

"Of course! Everyone knows them, but…well, they're just legends, right? None of them really happened, and the Heroes were just guys who stepped up to save Hyrule during times of trouble. They just can't be real."

"And yet, they are your legacy. Rinku, everything in those legends happened. They are actual historical events. And for the Heroes themselves…..well, you are the heir to that destiny."

"Whaaaat? Me?"

"You. Becoming the next hero—the Hero Incarnate—is passed down through a bloodline going back beyond the founding of Hyrule, which the goddesses have always called on to be the defenders of Hyrule. You are a descendant of that bloodline."

"That can't be true! The hero is always a Hylian, and I'm Sheikah."

"Shortly after the Hero of Time, the line split into two branches. One of the Hero's children married a Sheikah and vanished into the mountains, and the other moved to the tiny new settlement of Ordon. The Hero of Twilight was a descendant of the second branch, and you a descendant of the first." Impa said matter-of-factly. Rinku shook his head.

"I can't be the hero. What could possibly make you think that?" Impa stared Rinku in the face.

"Your trial. Anyone other than the Hero Incarnate who enters an Awakened Temple will die. Only the Incarnate can survive the monsters within."

"Isn't there anyone else who could be the hero?" Rinku asked desperately.

"There is," Impa admitted, "one other descendant of the line. A Hylian your age."

"So why can't he do it instead of me?"

"To start with," Impa chuckled, "he's a she."

Rinku didn't let his surprise show on his face. The other descendant was a girl his age, a Hylian girl his age. The girl from his dream had been a Hylian girl his age. He had a gut feeling that his dream-girl and the other descendant were one and the same, but he couldn't let Impa know what he knew.

"So where is this girl?" he asked casually.

"In Ordon. She is a descendant of the Hero of Twilight, after all."

"Hmmm."

Suddenly, another Sheikah burst into the room. It took Rinku a minute to recognize Kiro. His friend was out of breath, his red eyes wide with a combination of excitement and fear. He gasped for air for a few moments before turning to Impa.

"Miss Impa! The elders got a message from one of the Sheikah in Faron Province—he's reporting lots of monsters—they want to talk to you and Rinku right now!" Impa sprang to her feet and pulled Rinku up with her.

* * *

When they arrived at the meeting house, all eight elders were seated and waiting for them. Once Rinku and Impa had gotten themselves seated, Krisha looked at Impa.

"Have you told him of his destiny?" the elder asked.

"Yes." Impa replied solemnly.

"Good." she said. "We have received a message from one of the Sheikah in Faron Province—the one we asked to keep an eye on the girl."

"What is the message?" Impa asked.

"His message reads: _Unusual numbers of bublins in the woods. The girl has left the safety of the village and appears to be fighting her way to the F.T. in the company of another girl—suspicions on this girl's race, she appears to be Twili. F.T. Awakened. EOM._"

"What?" Rinku asked. "'F.T.? What's that?"

"F.T. stands for Forest Temple." Impa explained, before turning to the elders. "The other descendant is going into the Forest Temple?"

"Indeed. It is likely she will perish, even with the help of her ally." Rinku's eyes widened. The girl from his dream, with her lively green eyes and bright smile, dead—he didn't want that. She was important, he could feel it.

"No!" he exclaimed. The elders turned and stared at him. "Uh…..I mean, I'll go. I'll go to Faron Province. Someone has to un-Awaken that Temple, and if I'm the Incarnate like Impa says, I'm the only one who can do it. I'll go." In his mind, he added, _And I'll save that girl, too. She means something._

"Then go." the elders replied.

Rinku bolted out of the meeting house, back to his own. He grabbed some of his city clothes—a Sheikah uniform is awfully conspicuous outside the village or Castle Town—and, as an afterthought, picked up the huge sword he'd found in the Shadow Temple. _Strange,_ he thought,_ I thought I'd dropped this. Maybe someone went and retrieved it for me._ The blade had been cleaned, and someone had found a sheath and belt for it. Rinku considered strapping it around his waist, but the sword would be too heavy and set him off balance. Instead, he slung the belt crosswise over his shoulders with the hilt over his left shoulder, within easy reach of his dominant hand. He then set off out of the village, towards Ordona Province.

**A/N: I just love dream sequences. And, for those of you who don't enjoy long author's notes, don't worry, I'll only do a thank-you every ten chapters. Again, my next update may not come for a while. Darn ****_Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles_****, it has distracted me from Legend of Zelda. I think I'll post the first chapter from my fic on that tonight, while I have the wifi capacity to do it.**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Well, I guess it's true: there is no place like home. The consistent Wi-Fi is a bonus, too. ****_And_**** I got the next chapter of this done on the way home...when my sibling wasn't forcing me to play movies on my laptop.**

**maiakanaya: O.O oops. Well, sometimes you slip up and don't keep the terms consistent, you know? There are too many different types of monsters in LOZ for me to remember them all, and there isn't too much difference between a bublin and a bokoblin anyway. And I did the split hero thing because *claps hand over mouth* nearly gave you a spoiler, huh? Can't be doing that!**

**DemonicPrincess Mary Nightmare: Again, THANK YOU!**

**smilesman: thanks, it's good to be back. Anyway...Dark, shame on you! *confiscates knife* I was planning on putting you in the story during a later chapter...like, during the Fire Temple or something, but after that stunt...**

** Dark: Geez, sorry. There, are you happy now?**

** Me: Not particularly, but I might let you back in...if you behave yourself for the next three chapters and do the disclaimer.**

** Dark: Fine. -_- shadow djinni does not own the Legend of Zelda, or any affiliated characters, situations, locations, blah, blah, blah... Am I done now?**

Fyra: Forested Deeps

I had no idea just how crazy Light Dwellers were until the first one I met went charging into a horde of green-skinned monsters armed only with a metal stick. She was an interesting character, that was for certain. She was strikingly different from anyone I knew, with her gold-brown hair, grass-colored eyes, tan skin, and leggings. I'd even thought she was fairly sane for a while—that is, until this morning, when she came flying in through the door to her house. She'd put on some sort of shoe, yelled something about monsters, and asked me if I'd wanted to come along, to which I had foolishly agreed.

As I watched, she slashed at the purplish monsters with her metal stick. Several of them crumpled under her attack, falling to the ground and bursting into smoke. Others swung at her with clubs, which she either deflected with her metal stick or ducked, allowing them to hit their comrades with blows meant for her. Nothing touched her. She was graceful as a dancer, spinning and leaping, blows falling around her in a seemingly choreographed battle. The monsters were clumsy by comparison, staggering and screeching after her. She finished them surprisingly quickly and turned to me.

"Well?" she asked. "Are you coming, or are you just going to stand there like someone planted you?"

"Oh, I'm coming alright!" I said. "I want to see more of your world."

"Come on, then!" Kiona exclaimed, before darting off down the trail into the woods. I raced after her, my bare feet seeming to skim over the soft earth of the trail.

I liked this part of the Light Realm, with its trees and fresh dirt and springs—so different from the stone floors and columns of the Palace of Twilight. This….forest….was just as majestic, with the added bonus that it was _alive_. The green-gold light filtering through the leaves was far more beautiful than the orange glow of the Twilight. And, I suppose, I now had a friend, the Hylian girl racing ahead of me with her boots pounding on the forest floor. Then, we rounded a bend and found ourselves faced with more monsters. Kiona charged in, metal stick swinging. More monsters crumpled into smoke. Others fled.

"Hey, get back here!" she hollered. "Stand and fight me, cowards!" Then she was off again, chasing the monsters and yelling. I followed.

We hadn't gone far down the trail before we found ourselves standing in front of a large spring. Kiona gave it a long look. Her emerald eyes were a few shades greener than the sunlit depths of the pool. She smiled and turned to go, but then stopped and turned back, her head cocked to the side.

"Who is it?" Kiona murmured. "I hear you, but I can't see you. Who….are you?"

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"Shhh! I can't quite hear…." her eyes snapped wide. She stared at something hanging over the pool—but there was nothing there. Nothing, except a faint glimmer of golden light. She remained silent for countless minutes, staring up at the hanging thing, which I was beginning to suspect existed only in her imagination. _I_ certainly didn't see anything. Her green eyes were intent on it, and she seemed so utterly focused that I doubted she'd notice if I crept away quietly. I'd just taken a step when she spoke suddenly from behind me.

"The darkness in the temple at the heart of the forest?" she asked. "The old tree? I have to go there?" Kiona paused, as though waiting for a response, and then said, "Okay. I'll go." She then turned back to me. "We have to go to a temple deep in the forest!"

"What for?" I asked.

"There's something evil in there that I have to defeat." Kiona said.

"Who told you that?"

"Faron did," she said, pointing towards the spring. "He's the light spirit who protects Faron Woods. He told me to cleanse the evil power from the ancient temple, so that's what I'm going to do."

"And you actually trust him?!" I asked incredulously.

"Of course." Kiona replied. "Faron's a light spirit. They never lie." Then, she raced off deeper into the forest. I chased after her. Were all Light Dwellers this crazy, talking to spirits who weren't there and racing off on a tangent just because a figment of their imaginations told them to do something? Oh well. I did wish to come here…..just teaches me to be careful what I wish for.

Kiona bounded through the woods, leaping over logs and tree roots across the trail, ducking low-hanging branches, battling any monsters that got in her way. We raced through a dim cavern, through a misty depression in the forest floor, through another cave, and out into a clearing. My jaw dropped.

On the far side of the clearing, seemingly hanging over a chasm by a few tendrils of roots, was the stump of an enormous tree. The only thing that seemed to connect it to our clearing was a massive root that had been hollowed out into a bridge. A few of the monsters stood on the bridge, but at the sight of us, they either fled into the tree or committed suicide over the edge. Kiona grinned.

"This is it." she said reverently. "The temple at the heart of the forest. All that remains of the Great Deku Tree in the age of the Hero of Time. The place we must free from the shackles of evil." Kiona turned to me, a fierce light shining in her green eyes. "Let's go." And with that, she was off again, bounding up the tree-root bridge.

"Hey, wait up!" I cried, and ran after her.

* * *

I did _not_ like the temple. Not even a little bit. It was dark, dank, smelled like rotten wood and was _full of monsters_. Giant fungi protruded from the walls, along with ivy growing up them. There was a fairly definite path through the first room, but we'd barely gone a few steps down it before this—this plant-thing popped up out of the ground. The 'head' was encased in what looked almost like a seed case, and the only visible features were a set of slavering jaws set in the 'head'. It swayed slowly, head bobbing up and down. Kiona glared at it. I squeaked in fear and then mentally smacked myself for the undignified sound. Twili princesses did _not_ squeal when a plant monster popped up out of the ground. That was when it lunged for us, jaws snapped wide. Kiona swung her metal stick at it. To my surprise, it didn't burst into ash and smoke like the other monsters had. The metal stick clanged off of the seed-case head, and the plant monster was sent reeling. Kiona slashed at the stem, severing it. The head crashed to the ground, and the rest of the plant ash-and-smoked. Kiona then proceeded to hurl the seed-head against a nearby wall, shattering it to bits and sending woodchips flying.

"What the hell was that thing?" I asked.

"A Deku Baba." Kiona replied casually. "They're pretty common in Faron Woods, but all the ones outside the temple have gone dormant to escape the hottest part of the year so we didn't have to deal with them."

"Oh." I said. After a moment of thought, I asked, "Will we run into any more of them in here?"

"Probably," she said, shrugging. Then, she turned and gave me a long, contemplative look.

"Why are you staring at me?"

"If I remember correctly, in the legend of the Hero of Twilight, the Twilight Princess had some sort of power that she used to help the hero while he was in his other form, so I was wondering if you had the same powers." I flushed. This Hylian had no idea how well she'd aimed when she asked her question: she'd hit the target dead center.

"Yeah….I do have the same kind of powers, but…."

"So can you fight with them?"

"…..Well, yeah…but….."

"So then we can tackle this temple together!" Kiona exclaimed. "Come on, Fyra! Let's go find he evil thing in the depths of the temple and kill it!" And off she went, letting out a war whoop and swinging her stupid metal stick over her head.

"What have I gotten myself into?" I mumbled. A crazy Hylian, a temple in the forest, a mission from an imaginary forest guardian…..the Light Realm was an upside-down, inside-out, backwards version of the Twilight Realm. I…..I don't even know if I like it any more, or at least this part of it. How did Midna stand it? I whispered a quick prayer to the goddesses to give me the strength to put up with this temple. "_Please_ just let me get through this and back to the Twilight Realm, and I'll never wish for anything like this ever again." Then, I reluctantly followed Kiona deeper into the temple.

**A/N: And there's that! **

**Dark: Can I give 'em a spoiler on the next chapter? Please?**

**Me: Fine, but make it vague.**

**Dark: A certain demon may or may not show up to bother Kiona and Fyra next chapter. Vague enough?**

**Me: Yeah, I guess. Dark, if anyone guesses who it is, I'm sending you with cookies. So, anybody want to guess? My next chapter should be up in two days.**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: For once, I am on time with my update! Woohoo! *fistpump* Anyway...Dark!**

**Dark: What?**

**Me: You have cookies to deliver.**

**Dark: Damn.**

**Me: *hands list***

**Dark: *reading list* Only two. Phew. Cookies for Chaos god of balance and maiakanaya for their correct guess of...'the one and only fabulous Lord Ghirahim'?**

**Me: Yup.**

* * *

**Chaos god of balance: I...don't think Dark qualifies as a demon exactly. Then again, what do I know?**

**maiakanaya: he's my favorite too! Yes, Fyra has an interesting perspective on Light Dwellers, seeing as she only knows one and that one may or may not be somewhat crazy. Somehow, reading one of your reviews brightens my day a bit.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own LOZ or any affiliated characters, situations, or locations. I only own my OCs.**

Kiona: Forest Darkness, Daughter of Light

Kiona glared at the monstrous spider. It clacked its mandibles together and tensed as though preparing to charge her again—but she saw through the deception. While its front pair of limbs tightened the way they did before it charged, the back two sets made no move. She rolled to dodge a swipe aimed for her face. The spider—Skulltula, she reminded herself—had barbs on its front legs, which seemed to be designed to detach once they anchored in flesh and could cause infection within days. Kiona had no intention of being hit by them, but she worried for Fyra. The Twili girl wore much less clothing than Kiona did, and the Skulltulae scared her senseless. It lunged, and Kiona leapt away, feinting for the spider's second set of limbs and then slashing at the face. Two more of its eight glowing green eyes went dark, and the fiend screeched.

"Ha!" she yelled, adrenaline surging through her. There was something oddly thrilling about this fierce confrontation, something primal and animalistic.

Kiona backed off a pace or two before sprinting towards the Skulltula as quickly as she could. It slashed, but she leapt over the blow and landed atop the six-foot long, bone-white carapace that covered the Skulltula and protected it from attack. Kiona raised her sword and, careful to keep her balance on the curving exoskeleton, plunged it through the Skulltula's head. The monster collapsed, and Kiona sprang off as it burst into smoke and ash.

That was the third Skulltula she and Fyra had encountered, and, as per usual, the Twili stayed as far away from the combat as she could. Kiona was glad for that, at least. Fyra's shadow powers, from what Kiona had seen, were ineffectual against anything tougher than a bokoblin—that is, except for the hair thing. The giant hand the Twili could transfigure her hair into was extremely effective. The first Skulltula they had run across had gone after Fyra instantly, and Fyra had ended up swatting it across the room and onto the point of Kiona's sword.

"Are there any more?" Fyra asked.

"Nope," Kiona replied. "That was the only one in this room. Come on, we've got a key to find."

"A key?" The Twili girl looked puzzled.

"A key," Kiona confirmed. "We need it to unlock the door to the chamber the darkness is in. If the legends are true, there will be a monster in there that we'll have to defeat to drive out the darkness. And to do that, we need to find the Hero's Weapon hidden in this temple."

"What kind of weapon?" Fyra asked.

"I don't know. It depends on whether or not the Hero of Twilight put the weapons he won back in the temples he found them in or not. As I remember, the weapon from this temple was—"

"The boomerang with the power of wind!" Fyra finished.

"Yep. But the Hero of Time got a slingshot in this same temple, so I'm not sure what we'll find. I'm hoping for a ranged weapon this time." Kiona said.

"Ranged…weapon?" Fyra asked.

"Like a slingshot or a bow or something. Something you use at a distance without having to be close enough to be attacked by the target unless it has a ranged weapon too."

"Oh. I feel stupid."

"No need to. I doubt I'd be able to draw the Hero's Bow anyway, and I didn't ever learn how to use one—but I know I can handle a slingshot."

"So let's go find it!"

The pair headed for the door out of the room and into the massive open area cutting the temple in two. The wind blew fiercely, spinning the revolving platforms that crossed the ravine. Astonishingly, they all worked and were in the same arrangement the Hero of Twilight had left them in three centuries ago. Kiona and Fyra crossed to the other side and studied the arrangement of doors.

"Your pick this time, Fyra."

"Okay…this one!"

* * *

Hours later, another door rolled open, and the bedraggled pair stumbled out and collapsed in the open area. Kiona clutched her newly acquired bow in her right hand, marveling at the quality of the ancient weapon: the smoothness of the polished wood in her grip, the tautness of the sinew bowstring, the elegant, winglike carvings running up and down the length of the bow, the carefully depicted Triforce insignia on the grip.

"They say this bow is as old as the line of the Hero itself." Kiona mused. "The legends have it that the First Hero won the bow in a fight and made the carvings, imbuing it with sacred power and binding it to his descendants. Whenever one of his blood had need of a bow in their quest, the Hero's Bow found its way into their hands."

"Are you one of his blood, Kee?" Fyra asked. Kiona gritted her teeth. Fyra had tagged her with that nickname back in one of the earlier rooms, partly because it was the first sound in her name and partly because Kiona had made a 'keeee!' noise when a Deku Baba had dropped down from the ceiling and surprised her.

"Well," Kiona mused, "When I was younger and first started with a sword, my mentor said I got as good as I did so quickly because I had the blood of ancient warriors running in me, and a…..a dear friend told me to remember my ancestor, whom he referred to as the 'greatest wolf of all'…."

Fyra's amber-and-gold eyes widened. "You mean you're a descendant of the Hero of Twilight?"

"I think so…" With that pronouncement, Fyra fell over backwards.

"I can't believe it." the stunned Twili murmured. "The first Light Dweller I meet is the daughter of legends. I can't believe it."

"I can't either," Kiona admitted. "But it might explain this." The Hylian girl revealed the back of her right hand. Dark patterns swirled across the tanned skin, resolving into the shape of a stylized leaf. "The line of the Hero is said to be blessed by the goddess Farore, and this is one of her symbols. It's also the symbol of a lost race of Hyrule, the Kokiri—who were, coincidentally, also linked to the goddess."

"Okay, you need to teach me about all these legends. I never received much of a spiritual education in the Twilight Realm because our legends say the goddesses abandoned our tribe." Fyra said.

"Once we're out of the temple, okay? We can't waste any more time than we already have, and we still need to find that key to the boss chamber."

"Then let's go!" The redhead popped back to her feet. Kiona got up more slowly, envying Fyra's seemingly endless supply of energy. Then again, Fyra hadn't been fighting monsters, so she was understandably more energetic.

"Alright. Pick a door."

* * *

Kiona eyed the target. It was high up on the wall, too extreme an angle for her to hit it from close up. The chest holding the boss key was behind a gate blocking access into the alcove the chest rested in. She and Fyra had tried to move the gate, without success. It was magically barred, and the target seemed to be the only way to release the magic for opening the gate.

"I'm gonna try shooting it, okay? You run in and grab the key when the gate opens." she said. Fyra nodded.

The Twili girl shifted into a sprinter's stance, her fiery ponytail flopping over her shoulder. Kiona raised the bow and drew back the string, an arrow already fitted to it. She lined up the tip to the target, the skill almost instinctive and yet somehow instructed, as though a voice whispered in her ear and told her how to do it. She released the arrow, and it flew upwards towards her target. Kiona grinned. Something told her that her arrow flew true and would hit its mark.

"Got it!" Kiona exclaimed as her arrow buried itself in the target. The gate barricading access to the chest with the boss key in it rumbled open, but as it did so, Kiona's sensitive ears caught the faint sound of ticking. "Hurry, Fyra!"

"I'm going!" The Twili shouted back as she dashed through the gate. She flung open the lid of the chest, snatched something out, and sprinted back out. The gate closed a mere six seconds after Fyra raced through it.

"Yes!" Kiona crowed, pumping her fist in the air. "We got the key!"

"Let's go! To the boss chamber!" Fyra agreed.

The pair raced through chambers, ducking, dodging, or jumping to evade any monsters that came their way. Fierce energy burned in Kiona's limbs. She was ready for this fight. Her eyes narrowed as she recalled the dream she'd had the night before: the Sheikah boy in the chamber with the sword, the men in Hero's tunics, drawing the winged sword. Maybe the boy from her dream, the Sheikah with the Hylian eyes, would be waiting for her after she beat the monster in the heart of the temple. He meant something important, but whether he was merely a symbol for something else or an actual person was still a mystery to her. She grinned brutally. Perhaps he had been there to take the sword from her and claim the destiny as his own….but she doubted it. They had drawn the blade _together_, after all.

They reached the huge door blocking the way to the boss chamber. The sheer size of it alone seemed meant to intimidate the person who dared pass through it. The huge lock didn't bode well, either.

"Key?" she asked Fyra.

"Key." the redhead confirmed, stepping forward and unlocking the door. The lock slid into the face of the door, and the bars around the lock retracted into the doorframe, like the claws of a cat that decided it wanted to play nicely instead of shredding. The door rumbled open, and Kiona stepped through. Fyra followed quickly behind her, tauter than Kiona's bowstring.

The inside of the boss chamber was surprisingly well lit—and surprisingly empty. Kiona didn't like that one bit. The floor was flat and level, like a practice room for sparring or an arena. She didn't like that much, either. The cappuccino-haired Hylian stepped out into the center of the room, scanning it for the boss or another door to get out. Nothing. Fyra joined her cautiously.

"So where's the big monster?" Fyra said snidely. "I thought there was supposed to be one in here."

"That's what I'm trying to figure out!" Kiona snapped back. That's when laughter echoed through the chamber. Loud, malignant laughter that sent chills running up and down Kiona's spine. She turned slowly towards the source of the laughter.

It looked humanoid. Almost like a tall, white man. Dead-white hair flopped over a dead-white face, covering one of two purple-rimmed eyes that seemed to be all pupil and no iris or white. His tight bodysuit left much less to the imagination than Kiona had ever wanted to see and was patterned with red and gold diamonds. Blue diamond shaped earrings dangled from his elongated ears, and a red and gold diamond patterned cloak hung from his shoulders. He smirked and padded forward, his implacable tread almost silent. Kiona had never seen anything like him, but her first thought was, _predator_.

"Well, now what have we here?" he purred, stalking closer. "Have a pair of little girls wandered into the temple and gotten lost?"

"Who the fuck are you?" Fyra snarled. Kiona glanced over at her and noticed that Fyra's ponytail was beginning to raise and the end separate.

"Language, child," the man-like being said. "Mind it around me or I shall cut out your tongue. Not that you matter anyway. It's the other one I'm interested in." Kiona glared at the being. "Oh, but I'm being horribly uncivilized. Three thousand years of magical slumber can do that to you—I've forgotten to introduce myself. I am the Demon Lord Ghirahim."

If the demon expected any applause, he was disappointed. Kiona kept glaring. Fyra practically shook with rage, but she obviously suppressed it.

"It seems my name has long faded into legends and been forgotten. Such a fall from grace, to go from being lord over the whole of the surface to less than a half remembered bedtime tale." he sighed melodramatically. Things began to click into place in Kiona's mind. Ghirahim….the name was oddly familiar…and she found herself linking it to the First Hero…

"I remember." Kiona said. "You were the demon the First Hero fought; the fiend bent on capturing the Goddess Made Mortal, Hylia; the entity attempting to resurrect the Demon King. You fell before my very earliest ancestor."

"Good. I see someone remembers." He laughed again, the menace in it prominent. Kiona instinctively drew her sword. "Did you really just draw your blade on me, foolish girl?" he sneered.

"I did." Kiona growled back.

Ghirahim chuckled wickedly. "You have no inkling of how similar this little tableau is to another I recall….one that did not end pleasantly. Do you know how the memory is beginning to make me feel?" The demon began clenching and unclenching his fist, head lowering and tension knotting his shoulders. The light in the room dimmed and flickered, acquiring a greenish hue. Then, he threw his head back and made slashing motions with his arms, bellowing, "Furious! Outraged! _Sick with anger!_" He vanished in a spray of diamond-shaped holograms. However, his voice remained.

"This leaves me with…..a strong appetite for bloodshed." Ghirahim rematerialized just behind Kiona, thrusting his face forwards so it was right beside hers. "But it's not fair of me to take my old grudge out on you…..so I promise not to _murder_ you." Kiona shuddered, feeling the demon's warm breath on her face. "No," he purred, "I'll just beat you within an inch of your life!" Then, he stuck out his disgustingly long tongue and waggled it in Kiona's face. The Hylian leapt backwards with a shriek.

"I feel so violated! You disgusting creature! Eeew!" Kiona wiped his spit off of her face. Ghirahim began laughing. Then, his cloak vanished in a shower of the same diamond holograms.

"Prepare yourself, Hero's Daughter!" Then he lunged, punching at her face.

Kiona backflipped out of range, landing lightly on the toes of her boots and settling into a fighting stance. She circled her wrist a few times, to loosen up, before slashing at the demon. He swayed back away from her strike and grabbed the sword between the tips of the index and middle fingers on his right hand. She tugged back, but Ghirahim's grip was firm. Then, he yanked back and snatched her sword out of her grasp. Now gripping the hilt of the blade, he stabbed for her face. Kiona rolled aside, yelping as the sword cut off a lock of hair beside her face. An inch or two to the left and her own blade would have embedded itself in her eye socket. Kiona scrambled back out of his range and sprinted to the right, circling Ghirahim. He smirked and _threw_ the sword at her. Thinking fast, she dove aside and allowed the blade to whistle past her and hit the floor with a clang. She rolled over and snatched it up, then allowing the demon to approach. The instant he was close enough to take the sword from her hands, she launched into a powerful spin attack and hurled the demon down on the floor. He popped back up with a grin.

"Far more inventive than your ancestor, girl, I'll give you that." His grin shifted, becoming a sadistic smirk. "I'll just have to up the ante a little earlier than I'd anticipated." Ghirahim snapped his fingers, and a black rapier materialized in his hand.

The fight went faster, sword clanging on sword as they fought back and forth across the chamber. Fyra stayed well out of the way of the flashing blades, avoiding the perilous dance Kiona found herself engaged in. Her eyes remained locked on Ghirahim, their swords flickering tongues of silver and black flame between their faces. Then, Ghirahim knocked her sword out of her hands and sent it clattering across the floor. He smirked, raising his sword to cleave her skull.

That was when Kiona struck. Weaponless, she dropped to her hands on the floor and pivoted her hips, swinging her legs in a powerful scything motion that sent the demon sprawling. She leapt back to her feet, drawing the hunting knife in her boot as she did. Ghirahim's sword vanished in a shower of black diamonds, and the demon rose. His black eyes narrowed as he glared at her.

"That was clever, forest child. Very clever. So very clever indeed. But I've wasted enough time playing with you. I have _far _bigger fish to fry." Then he vanished in a spray of red and gold diamonds. Kiona stopped and stared around, wondering if he was going to reappear and kill her. Fyra stepped out of the shadows at the corner of the room and padded over to Kiona.

"That…..was the damn most epic thing I've seen, like, ever. But the craziest. Definitely the craziest. Are all Light Dwellers this whacko?"

"No, just those of us with the blood of heroes." Suddenly, a patch on the floor began shining with turquoise light. The patch resolved into a swirling black vortex outlined and shot through with turquoise light. "What _is_ that?" Kiona asked. Fyra padded over to look at it.

"What the hell is a warp portal doing _here_, of all places?" the Twili asked, bemused.

"A warp portal?" Kiona asked. "What's a warp portal?"

"We Twili use them for transportation," Fyra explained, "but I have no idea as to why one would be here."

"Can we use it to get out?" Kiona wondered.

"Yeah, probably." Fyra said. "Come over here, Kee." Kiona walked over, and Fyra gripped her hand and activated the warp portal. The two girls split into particles of Twilight and were pulled out of the boss chamber and into a clearing in Faron Woods—the clearing of Faron's Spring.

Kiona found herself kneeling in the water of the spring, gazing up at the Light Spirit Faron. The forest guardian peered down at her, his monkeylike face impassive as ever.

_"You have done well, Daughter of the Heroes. The temple at the forest's heart is free of the darkness now. Its true nature is unveiled—as is yours. Look at yourself, Hero's Daughter."_

Kiona stood and looked down at herself. Her old clothing had vanished, to be replaced with the deep olive green of the Hero's Tunic and tan trousers tucked into her boots. Her hands were covered by leather gauntlets, and her sword was in a sheath over her right shoulder. The Hero's Bow rested in a sheath of its own alongside the quiver of arrows on her other shoulder. Under the outfit but over a light undertunic was a protective layer of chainmail.

"This is…..my true nature?" she asked.

_"Yes. You are destined to defend Hyrule from peril…but you shall not do it alone. You will be aided by the other descendant of the Bloodline of the Hero in this quest."_

"How do I find him?"

_"Go east to the land guarded by the spirit Eldin. There, you will find your ally and your next challenge. Seek the other descendant in the village of Kakariko. Go well, Daughter of Light, and go with courage."_ The light spirit faded.

"Who were you talking to, Kee?" Fyra asked from behind Kiona. "And what's with the clothes?"

"They're traditional Hero's garb. And…..you mean you couldn't see Faron?"

"No," the Twili said, mystified. "There was nothing there. Not even a squirrel."

"Oh." Kiona said sadly. "Well, we have a new destination, Fyra. Eldin Province, to the east."

"So we're just going to go racing off on something a figment of your imagination said to do?"

"Faron is not imaginary. And yes, we are. But I have to go back to the village first, to tell everyone goodbye." Kiona chuckled to herself. "Jakob always said he was expecting me to take off on my Goddess Quest, and now destiny is proving him correct. I'd never thought my mentor would turn out to be an oracle."

* * *

_ In the boss chamber, the silence and darkness was interrupted by a spray of diamonds. Ghirahim rematerialized in the center of the chamber, accompanied by another individual. Said person was garbed in a purple tunic and cape, with a floppy purple hat on his head. Lavender bangs obscured one eye._

_"You failed to kill the girl, Ghira."_

_"Just as you failed with the boy. I had only meant to test her, anyway. She will be a dangerous opponent—and you know I keep my most fearsome foes alive long enough to let them think they've won before crushing them like ants." The white haired demon made a crushing motion with his fist to illustrate his point._

_"And how well did that work last time? We should have eliminated them before, while we had the chance."_

_"We'll crush them next time, then."_

_"What with, demon?"_

_"You still have that Dark Mirror, correct?"_

_"Yes."_

_"And you can summon Ganon's minions with it as well as your own, correct?"_

_"Yes, but what are you driving at? Stop fiddling about and ask what you intend."_

_"I want you to summon _that one_."_

_"But _he _failed against the Hero of Time."_

_"Only because the hero had attained new power by that point. _He_ will not fail against them." The demon smirked. "And I have a particular fondness for that creation. After all, it was originally mine."_

**A/N: Kiona didn't get to use her new bow too much in this chapter. -_- Anyway, you can probably guess the other villain from my not-so-subtle hints there. The plot is getting ready to thicken, 'cause I'm throwing my big three together and adding someone else into the mix in the next few chapters. Everyone ready?**

**Dark: Are they summoning-**

**Me: *claps hand over Dark's mouth* No! Spoiler! Wait until I actually write it! If you can guess who the person being summoned is, don't be afraid to send me a review!**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: The long-awaited moment arrives! Or, at least, the beginning of it...towards the end of this mostly-filler chapter. And...crappy hand-drawn cover is hand-drawn. I did it myself.**

**maiakanaya: This chapter might feel like a bit of a letdown...but the action starts next chapter, I swear! And Ghira will make more appearances, either as the boss or just to do some taunting. As always, your review made me smile. And as for Dark...I'm thinking along the lines of a canonical Dark because two Rinkus in the same Hyrule would probably cause the apocalypse. XD**

**Chaos god of balance: Yep! I tried to make my villain choices at least somewhat possible...and also Vaati is just cool :3. As for the OC villain...well...we'll find out later.**

**smilesman: I feel for you, man. I've tried reviewing on a Kindle Fire, and that sucks, so I guess a 3DS would be even harder. As for my choice for adding Dark, well, we already did the Shadow Temple with Rinku, remember? Oblivion? Cool! I haven't played, but I've heard some good things about that game series.**

**Leopardkit: Yes! It is Dark!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own LOZ, or any affiliated characters, locations, situations, etc. I only own my OCs.**

Rinku: Faces of a Coin

Over a day after he left his village, Rinku arrived in Ordon. He was almost surprised by the similarities between the two places. Both had a quiet, almost sleepy air, with children running in the streets, adults sitting on porches and talking, teenaged girls gossiping under trees, and guys swimming in the river—which ran right through the center of the village. He looked around, seeking the familiar golden-brown of the dream-girl's hair and finding nothing. Cold dread coiled in his stomach. Perhaps he was too late. Rinku looked around again, straining his ears for snatches of conversation and searching for someone to ask about her. His gaze fell on a muscular man with black hair, sitting on a porch and sharpening a sword. _He's the one to ask,_ Rinku thought. The blonde Sheikah walked over, for once grateful for his Hylian features and glad he'd changed into the tunic and leggings before entering the village.

"Excuse me, sir? I'm looking for a Hylian girl, about my age, with golden-brown hair and green eyes. Could you…." he trailed off uncertainly as the man placed his whetstone aside and stood to glare down at Rinku.

"And who're you, eh? What do you want with Kiona?" The man's face shifted into a threatening scowl. Rinku fought to keep from shrinking away from the fearsome glare.

"I'm her cousin, from Castle Town." he lied smoothly. "My mother mentioned that we had family out here, but all I got was a description of my cousin. Could you tell me where I can find her, please?" Rinku relaxed a bit as the tension and scowl left the man's features.

"Well, if she were still in Ordona or Faron Provinces I could, but she isn't. Sorry, lad. Bit of a disappointment, yeah?"

"She left?" Rinku asked, the dread in his stomach coiling tighter and turning into fear.

"Aye. Ye missed her by a day."

"And you know her? How well? What's she like? Where did she go?"

"Whoa there, lad. You're running off like a stampede of goats with them questions there. Yeah, I know Kiona. Been training the girl with a sword for nearabouts seven years now. My prize pupil she is, best in the whole village. As for where she went….." The man's expression shifted again, becoming thoughtful and distant. "She went where them heroes all go: after the forest, the fire. She's gone to Eldin, I 'spect. Sent her off with a proper sword, 'stead of the practice one she went into them woods with. Gonna need it soon, goddess-marked like she is 'n all."

"Goddess-marked? What does that mean?"

The man began laughing, deep, hearty guffaws. "Lad, goddess-marked means the goddesses've chosen you as one of their special ones. Usually, the marked ones are children of the heroes or members of the royal family—y'know, descendants of the Hero of Time and the Princess of Destiny. They're all made fer somethin' greater than just ordinary life. And with a goddess mark like the one Kiona got, I'm half-surprised she weren't off chasin' fate before now."

"So, she went to Eldin Province?" Rinku asked, attempting to redirect the conversation back to his question.

"Yep. Left yesterday, early in the evenin'. I'd sent 'er out that mornin' to clear them pesky bokoblins outa them woods, an' she came back that evenin' in a Hero's tunic, sayin' Faron had told her to go to Eldin fer one thing or another. I gave 'er the sword I'd made fer her come the end of her training, 'cause them monsters are meaner in the east. She'll need it, an' all the luck she can get."

"Thank you…." Rinku trailed off. He hadn't asked the man's name.

"Name's Jakob, lad." the man said.

"Thank you, Jakob. I guess if I want to find her, I should go to Eldin as well."

"Then hurry, lad. Heroes never stay in one place longer than it takes to beat the evil, an' then they're gone again. Hurry, else you'll miss her." Jakob encouraged.

"Thanks!" Rinku called again as he turned to leave the village. Jakob watched him from his front porch until the teen disappeared around the bend.

"Best of luck to ye, lad. You'll need it, goddess-marked like ye are."

* * *

Rinku made it to Kakariko Village by sunset—barely. It was a shorter trek from Ordon to Kakariko than it was from the Sheikah village to Ordon, maybe twelve or thirteen miles, but a long walk anyway. He wished he had a horse.

When Rinku finally emerged from the narrow canyon leading into the village, he stopped dead. Not because of the striking beauty of the little town, red in the setting sun, or that of the Spirit's Spring, but by who stood knee-deep in the spring—the girl from his dream. Her cappuccino-colored hair looked nearly red in the light from the setting sun, and her emerald eyes focused on something over the spring. He stepped closer, half wanting to speak to her and half afraid of disrupting whatever she was doing. Rinku had reached the edge of the spring when the girl turned to face him. His gaze locked with hers, and the Sheikah found himself paralyzed. She stepped closer to him.

"You're the Sheikah from my dream," she said. "The Hero dream in the chamber of the sword." Rinku's eyes widened. She'd had that dream too, apparently. He nodded.

"And you're the Hylian descendant of the line of Heroes," he replied nervously. The girl walked over to him and extended her hand for a handshake.

"I'm Kiona," she said. Rinku reached out and shook her hand.

"Rinku, of the Sheikah," he said. "I'm another descendant of the—"

"Shhh. Don't speak of it in the open. Eldin told me to keep the lineage a secret, so the forces of darkness don't know too much about us. I've got a room in the inn, we can talk there."

Kiona walked towards the largest building in the village—Rinku guessed it was the inn—and he followed closely behind. They took a staircase up the outside of the building, across a balcony, and through a second-story window. As soon as his eyes adjusted to the faint candlelight, Rinku almost yelped. The room wasn't empty. Another person sat on one of the beds, a red-haired girl with ambery-gold eyes, deep-grey-and-cream skin—clearly not Hylian.

"Whaaa…..who…..what…..?" the Sheikah stammered. The girl looked bored, cleaning under her nails and not even bothering to look up.

"Gee, Kiona goes out to talk to her imaginary light spirit and comes back with another clueless Light Dweller. Big surprise." the girl said.

"What are you?" he asked.

"Twili," the girl replied lazily. "I'm Fyra. And you're…" she looked up at him. Faint surprise crossed her features.

"He's Rinku. I think he's the one Faron told me to come here to find." Kiona interrupted. "But we've got a lot to talk about, and only a few hours of candlelight to talk in."

**A/N: Yeah...a bit of a filler. But the fun-and the temple-starts next chapter.**

**Also, about the possibility of an OC villain, well, I no longer have a boring Spanish class to make characters in, so I'm turning it into a contest. Submit me a villain, either by PM or review. However, the villain must be powerful enough to control both Ghirahim and Vaati, and a good reason for trying to take over Hyrule. This format, please:**

Name:

Appearance:

Weapons:

Special Powers (i.e. Ganondorf's boar form in TP, Vaati's eyeball-monster thing in FS):

Motives:

Any Other Important Info:

**Best villain gets into the story. So, send me a review-and, hopefully, a villain!**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Thank you to everyone who sent me a villain! They all seem like good characters, and the two I received through reviews leave me plenty of room to elaborate on the basic structure. If anybody else has a villain, send 'em on in! ...Though I'll have to kill off your lovely foe at the end. I'll take any additional villains until the fifteenth (because the next chapter is number fifteen XD), but after that, villain submissions are closed. If you don't want me contacting your profile, just drop one as a guest, I don't mind.**

**maiakanaya: Thank you, I just love your villain. They (no spoilers XD) are the most fleshed-out submission I have, which gives me a better insight but less to play with. Sadly, not much action here either, but more plot!**

**Chaos god of balance: Thank you! Reaper is also fairly well-developed, and he seems pretty fun, too...but hard to beat! He'd be a challenge. Great poem, too!**

**smilesman: OMG, A FELLOW TETRAFORCE BELIVER! I AM NOT ALONE! *does happy dance* Thanks for sending me Arkahasen, too. He's the least developed, but the seed for a potentially great villain. Shapeshifting is clever, and it's a good thing I've played all of those games so I know all the bosses... O.O two Ghirahims are possible.**

**Leopardkit: I respond to all my reviewers, and to followers and fav-ers every ten chapters. It's nothing really.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own LOZ, or ant affiliated characters, locations, situations, or the first part of the legend. I do own my OCs and my Tetraforce theory.**

Fyra: Princesses and Legends

It's official: I love the Light Realm. I can't help but find myself awestruck by the way the light changes over the course of a day; the brilliant rose-gold-amber of sunrise, the beauty of a pure-blue sky, the gold-orange-indigo of sunset, the _stars_, the _sun_, the _moon_—it's all so beautiful. And the people…well, that ties into my latest new power. I can turn into a shadow and hide in the one Kiona casts. I couldn't do it before, so it's either a product of my contact with the Fused Shadows—which I can't figure out how to access—or a natural part of a being of Twilight in the Light Realm. Either way, it's amazing. I finally get to see other Light Dwellers, and more of the Light Realm than just the inside of houses. Speaking of Light Dwellers…..

It's late, midnight perhaps. Kiona blew out the candles hours ago. There are two beds in our room in the Elde Inn, and since Kiona's new buddy showed up she and I are sharing one and he's got the other. If I remember right, his name's Rinku. Funny name, even weirder than Kiona. He's rather striking, I must admit. His hair is the exact color of sunlight, though the moonlight coming through the window turned it silver, and his eyes are the same intense blue of the midafternoon sky. He's…strangely attractive. Before I left the Twilight, I'd only seen people with silver, black, or red hair. I'd never seen anything like Rinku's gold hair or Kiona's….gold-brown, I guess.

Right now, the moon casts funny shadows across Rinku's face, but he's clearly not sleeping. His right eye is opened a mere sliver, showing glints of blue as he watches Kiona and I. She's sleeping, though; I can feel her body heat even though she's curled around a pillow with her back to the wall. She always seems to sleep like that. I sat up, causing Rinku to jerk into a sitting position, his hand going for a pouch he set down on the headboard.

"Relax. I'm not gonna kill you, or whatever you think. But I do want to know why you've been watching us for the last hour or so. It's…kinda creepy." I said. He blushed and allowed his hand to drop back to his side.

"Ahhh," he said. "…sorry about that. I'm just, well….well, I'm a bit on edge right now. I have no clue what's going on, or what I'm supposed to do….can we talk about this outside or something? I don't exactly want to wake Kiona up, seeing as she's the only smart one in this group."

"The only smart one?" I asked, my tone almost a growl.

"Well, she _is_ the only one sleeping, and the goddesses know we'll need our sleep for whatever's coming," he said, shrugging. "So, take our discussion outside?"

"Fine."

We climbed out of the window and up onto the roof of the inn. I was beginning to dislike my short tunic, as it led to Rinku glancing at me and blushing. Maybe a tunic this length with no leggings or whatever was indecent in the Light Realm? I don't know, but I sat with my legs under me all the same, so I wouldn't be so indecent with him. After all, it's one thing to sit cross-legged around other girls, but a completely different thing around guys.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" I asked. Rinku looked down and away from me, towards Death Mountain volcano.

"How much do you know about what's going on in Hyrule right now?" he asked.

"Not much. The warp took me to some building in a desert just as dusk was coming, so I flipped out and warped to Ordon Village and ran into Kiona. Then, the very next day, we ended up in the woods, Kiona killed, like a thousand monsters, fought this creepy white demon thing inside a giant tree stump that's apparently a temple, and came here on the word of some spirit Kiona dreamed up. Called it Faron or something."

"Oh, the light spirit in Faron Woods. They're real, but only a few people can see them. Legends have it that the Hero of Twilight and the Princess of Light spoke with them, and Kiona is apparently descended from the Hero of Twilight, so it makes sense that she can see them and speak to them. Do you know anything else?"

"That demon thing said he was…..interested in Kiona. And when they were fighting, he didn't seem like he was aiming to kill her. It felt more like he was testing her or something, because he could have killed her easily when he disarmed her, but he gave her enough time to knock him flying. And I take it that being chased by little green monsters riding on boars isn't exactly normal, either."

Rinku chuckled. "Nope, not normal."

"So what do you know?" I asked.

"I know that Kiona and I are both descendants of the bloodline of the hero, and that, supposedly, I'm the Hero Incarnate. But things just don't seem to add up to that conclusion. Kiona handled a temple with your help, and only the Incarnate is supposed to leave an Awakened Temple alive. And then…there's us ourselves. The hero is always a male Hylian, but I'm Sheikah and Kiona's female, so neither of us fit that description….and I don't have a clue as to what we're meant to do next! Do we go see if we can handle the Fire Temple, or maybe talk to Princess Zelda, or what? I just don't know!" Rinku really seemed agitated now. He paced back and forth on the roof like an animal in a too-small cage.

"Maybe we ought to get some sleep," I suggested. "Crazy things usually look better in the morning."

"Guess so," he replied with a shrug.

* * *

I was the first one up the next morning. As per usual, the change in the level of light woke me up, so I sat at the window and watched the sun rise over the slopes of the volcano. Beautiful. The most beautiful thing I'd seen in my life. Kiona joined me at the window halfway through, her green gaze focused not on the sunrise, but on something below. I followed where she was looking and saw the strangest thing I'd seen maybe _ever_: a tall, lanky man in a white shirt and short white shorts with some red sail-thing attached to his back running up the road into the village.

"What is _that_?" I asked.

"The Postman," Kiona replied nonchalantly. "He's a little weird, but he does a pretty good job."

"It looks like he's coming this way," I said. Kiona looked down, following his path with her eyes.

"I suppose so," she replied. "He'll be at the inn in a minute or so. Let's wake Rinku and go down in case he has a letter for one of us." She padded over to Rinku's bed and shook him, trying to wake him up. It failed. "Laziness!" Kiona cried, and tipped Rinku's mattress so he fell on the floor.

"Oof! Hey, what was that for?" he groaned.

"Lazybones, it's morning, the Postman is coming, and you need to get up or I'm dragging you down in nothing but your trousers," Kiona replied.

"The Postman?" he asked, sounding dazed.

"The Postman." Kiona confirmed, and threw him his tunic. "Get dressed."

* * *

Five minutes later, we were down in the inn's main floor, all three of us fully clothed (I didn't have anything but my short tunic and hid in Kiona's shadow anyway, Kiona apparently slept in her clothes, and she'd practically stuffed poor Rinku into his shirt) and looking for the Postman. He came jogging into the room.

"I'm looking for a Sheikah going by the name Rinku," he announced.

"That would be me," Rinku said, stepping forward.

"Ah, master Rinku. I have a letter for you from the Princess Zelda." The postman held out a cream-colored envelope closed with a glob of purple sealing wax. Rinku accepted it with a nod. "Now," the Postman cried, "Onward to mail!" And he turned and sprinted out of the room. Rinku opened the letter, read it over, and gestured for Kiona to follow him.

"What's it say?" she asked.

"Zelda says she needs to see me urgently, so I have to come to the castle as soon as I get the letter. She also says to 'bring whomever I'm travelling with' with me when I go." He looked puzzled. "But, how does she know I'm travelling with people? And why does she need to see me so urgently?"

"Hold on a moment," Kiona said. "You know the princess personally?"

"Yes. I've known her since I was ten years old. My mentor was also her guardian Sheikah, and I was being trained to be the next Sheikah Guard for the royal family."

"Oh," Kiona said. "Well, it says to go now, so let's go."

Rinku groaned. "I don't have a horse, and Castle Town is a half-day's walk from here…"

"Don't worry. I've got a horse." Kiona replied.

We made our way out to the Elde Inn's stables, behind the main building. They were pretty big stables, with two buildings with eighty stalls each. Kiona's horse, Kafé, was being kept in the last stall in the second stable, and he was _not_ happy to be there. He didn't seem to like anyone other than Kiona, either, because he kicked at me and bit three stable boys here at the inn. Kiona says they weren't respecting her horse, but I'm under the impression he just hates everyone.

"So, how is this gonna work?" I asked, materializing from Kiona's shadow.

"Well," she said, "I was thinking that you stay in my shadow and Rinku and I ride Kafé. He's not big enough to carry more than two, and the one time we tried hitching him to a cart I ended up paying for a new one."

"Fair enough," I said, shrugging, and vanished back into Kiona's shadow.

It was an interesting experience, hiding in someone else's shadow. You're really not in control of anything, and you match their movements while gliding along the ground. You touch nothing, and nothing touches you. It's similar to warping in that it's an in-between space, but instead of between here and there it's between here and not-here. You simply observe, rather than controlling and acting. It's an even more interesting experience when the shadow is that of a girl and a boy on the back of a galloping horse riding across an open field. It was quite entertaining to watch Rinku hold onto Kiona for dear life.

* * *

I wasn't allowed to rematerialize for a while. Kiona left Kafé outside Castle Town, showing Rinku a whistle she had trained the horse to come to when he heard a certain tune on it, and the two went into the town…..although it was too big for a town, yet not as large as the Twilit Citadel back in the Twilight Realm. They made their way to the castle dominating the northern side of the town, past the guards—who obviously recognized Rinku—and into the castle gardens. They rounded a bend in the hedges and stopped.

A girl with auburn hair sat on a marble bench with her nose buried in a book. I guessed she was the princess, because she wore this tiara on her head and a long, elegant dress. I immediately began comparing myself to her. The Light Realm princess looked dignified and noble, with her complicated hairdo, long dress, and fancy jewelry. Compared to her, my ancestress looked like she belonged in a brothel, and I looked like an undignified ruffian. But she quickly changed my opinion when Rinku cleared his throat.

"Rinku!" she squealed, dropping the book and jumping off the bench to tackle-hug him. "You came!" She glomped him for a few more minutes, during which I took the opportunity to rematerialize and stand beside Kiona. "I'm sorry for distracting you from whatever you were doing, but I have something very important to tell you. But first, who're your friends?"

Rinku chuckled. "This is Kiona of Ordon and Fyra of….well….." He rubbed the back of his neck and looked embarrassed. I nearly laughed. He was cute when he blushed.

"Of the Twilight Realm." I finished. "That should have been obvious."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," the princess said, smiling. "I'm Princess Zelda." Zelda glanced around the gardens, before adding, "We probably ought to go up to my rooms for this. I don't want anyone to overhear."

* * *

Zelda's rooms were even fancier than mine. She had a huge four-poster bed with a canopy of purple velvet, a seating area, a big bay window, an enormous closet, and a cozy fireplace to boot. Needless to say, I was more jealous than I've ever been in my life. She directed us to the chairs and then proceeded to sprawl on her bed. Rinku lounged in one chair, while Kiona sat bolt-upright in another and I leaned back in a third.

"So, Zel, what did you need to tell me?" Rinku asked. The princess's amethyst eyes went distant.

"I had a dream," she replied. "In it, I was alone in the dark. Then, all of a sudden, the area in front of me lit up. You stood in the middle of the light, with a Hylian girl to your right and a Twili to your left. The sword you bear now was sheathed at your shoulder, and you held a blue ocarina. The Hylian wore the Hero's Tunic and was armed with the Hero's Bow, and held a golden harp. The Twili girl was unarmed, but I could sense a massive power. Then, the light faded and a voice whispered in my ear, 'the sacred instruments must be reclaimed, and the true power of the Hero found by the chosen ones, else Hyrule shall fall before the enemy of the goddesses'. And when I woke up, I knew I had to tell you."

All three of us stared at her. I could _not_ believe what just came out of the Light Realm princess's mouth. Massive power? Me? Not possible. My powers were the weakest of any of the royal line in the last century. The rest of it, I could believe. The proof sat in the other two chairs, half of it in a green tunic and the other half in a bodysuit-thing. Both halves looked shocked. Then, Kiona rose.

"Thank you, Your Highness." she said gravely.

"Please, call me Zelda." the princess replied.

"Yes, thanks, Zel," Rinku said. "We'll search for the sacred instruments, and for this 'true power'. You two ready?" he asked, turning to Kiona and me.

* * *

We spent the next night camping out in Hyrule Field. Long after the campfire had died to embers and Rinku had gone to sleep, Kiona and I sat awake. Eventually, I broke the silence between us.

"So, back in the Forest Temple, you said you would tell me some of the legends of the Light Realm," I said. Kiona nodded.

"I'll start with the Triforce legend," she said softly.

"Long ago, when all was chaos, the Goddesses descended from the heavens. Din, goddess of power, used her strength to create the earth. Nayru, goddess of wisdom, bestowed order upon the newly created earth. To uphold the order, Farore, goddess of courage, created all forms of life. But Hylia, the fourth goddess, chose not to bless the world with anything. When the three Elder Goddesses chose to return to the Sacred Realm, they and Hylia created an artifact, so some of the power of the goddesses would remain in this world. Each goddess created a piece, bestowing it with their powers: Power, Wisdom, Courage, and Light. Centuries passed, and the Elder Goddesses watched over Hyrule from the Sacred Realm and Hylia protected the land from within. But all could not remain peaceful forever.

"From the unused scraps of goddess-power during the creation, beings of darkness formed. And the mightiest of these dark beings, Demise, rose to challenge Hylia and claim the Sacred Triangles for himself. After a battle which nearly destroyed Hyrule, Hylia sent the remaining humans into the sky on a floating island, and used her power to seal Demise—and fell to mortality. And, with her fall, the Force of Light became that of Darkness and was lost, leaving the artifact known today as the Triforce—the Forces of Power, Wisdom, and Courage, and the empty place in the center where Light once rested."

"Whoa." I said, stunned. "Fascinating legend."

"It may be true," Kiona replied. "Because there's more to the legend than just that."

"After Demise was at last defeated by the First Hero, peace returned to Hyrule. But dark powers still lingered, manifesting as monsters and eventually entering the hearts of people. Many fought over the power of the Triforce, and our legend says that one tribe was sealed in the Twilight Realm—which appears to be true. Others searched for the Fallen Force, with no success. After a long and bloody war, the Ancient Sage Rauru sealed the entrance to the Sacred Realm with a temple, and the Master Sword and three Spiritual Stones as locks. Centuries more passed before another attempted to claim the Triforce for his own.

"This other was the Gerudo King, Ganondorf. He tricked the Princess of Destiny and the Hero of Time into opening the Sacred Realm for him, and tried to claim the Triforce. However, he failed, and the Triforce separated into the three remaining Forces, leaving Ganondorf with the Force of Power. Seven years after this, the Hero of Time was awakened, and went on a quest to awaken the Seven Sages to defeat Ganondorf. In a climactic battle, it was revealed that the Hero and Princess were both bearers of the other two Forces. Together with the Sages, they sealed Ganondorf in the Twilight Realm, where he gained power until three hundred years ago, when he again attempted to claim Hyrule for his own….and the Triforce as well. He was ultimately destroyed by the Hero of Twilight. But, some of the legends are confused."

"Confused how?" I asked.

"Some legends claim that Ganondorf found the Fallen Force. These legends also claim that he was unable to bear it, and so created—some legends say found—a being to bear this Force, but none of them say what this being was or what happened to it when Ganondorf was defeated by the Hero of Time. They only say this being became an entity of incredible darkness."

"Ooooookay then. Do all Light Dwellers like complicated legends like that one?"

"It's not so complicated, really—until you get to the possibility of Ganondorf finding the Fallen Force. But the last part—minus the Force—is true. It's been written down in the Hyrule Historia, an ancient book used by the descendants of the Sages to record the history of Hyrule. Every Hyrulean learns this growing up."

"Just seems like a fantastic legend to me," I said.

Again, silence descended on us.

"We ought to get some sleep. After all, the Awakened Temples won't cleanse themselves of darkness, right?" Kiona said.

"True enough," I agreed. "And we now have sacred instruments to find."

"No one knows where the Ocarina is hidden, but Hylia's Harp is supposedly in the floating sky-island known as Skyloft. I guess we'll end up going there eventually." Kiona flopped back on her bedroll. "Good night, Fyra."

"Night, Kee."

**A/N: I think I may have outdone myself with the legend, but I ****_did_**** do some research for it. Remember, you have until the fifteenth to send me your villain!**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Well, it's the fifteenth, and I only have four submissions for villains. Remember, guys, you've got 'til 11:59 tonight to send me one! Anyway, for those of you who sent me a villain already, they're all great! I'm gonna have a hard time picking my favorite. And yes, the new OC appearing in this chapter ****_is_**** one of the submissions I received, but he's not the main villain.**

**maiakanaya: Thank you! I've actually been waiting to type that legend, because I'm something of a collector of Hyrulean legends and I've been trying to piece everything together from the different games into a complete picture of Hyrulean mythology and legends. I'm sooooooooo glad that you look for the next chapter like that, it makes me feel appreciated.**

**Chaos god of balance: One villain submission is good, but two doubles your chances, right? I love Chaos. Love him. Love him enough to put him in, but he's not the Big Bad. From the description you gave me, he seems more like a potential ally than anything else, soooooooo...here we go!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own LOZ, or any affiliated characters, situations, locations, etc. I do not own****_ any_**** of the characters in this chapter, because Chaos belongs to Chaos god of balance, as referenced above.**

Bonus Chapter: Hero's Shadow

He walked down the long-abandoned streets, his ink-black boots making no sound on the ancient cobblestones beneath him. The mortals who had once dwelled in this place had left it, long ago, for greenery and solid earth beneath their feet, traded the freedom of the boundless sky for meadows and pastures, volcanoes and lakes, but he didn't care. His masters had sent him here to guard something. To stop it from falling into the hands of their enemies. If the enemies claimed it, his masters would fall. And so, he was here, primed to prevent that.

'Guard Hylia's Harp,' they had told him. 'That is why you are here. That is your purpose.' And, shadow that he was, he had no choice but to obey the commands of his masters. So he was here, in this abandoned sky-place, guarding an ancient Goddess-treasure from any who came to claim it. And he walked the empty streets, patrolling endlessly, never stopping for the food, drink, or rest he did not need. He never noticed the other watching him.

The 'other' stood in the shadow of the ancient knight-academy, his blond hair falling into his eyes as he tracked the shadow's movements through the streets. He sighed and shoved his bangs out of the way for the tenth time that hour. He was certain now, certain of the meaning of the shadow's incessant rounds.

"Poor creature," he said, so softly none but himself could have heard, even if he weren't completely concealed by the cloaking spell. "When they made you, they made you incomplete. You're not like Farore's creations, are you? You don't have a soul." He snorted derisively. "And no free-will, either."

The shadow's measured pace took him back towards the unseen watcher. The watcher shook his hair back out of his face and stepped towards the shadow, who gazed blankly at him. The watcher's violet eyes filled with emotion, part pity for the shadow and part rage against its creator.

"Your creation was a mistake," the watcher said, now speaking to the shadow. "I will correct it."

The watcher slid his greatsword from the sheath at his back and pointed it towards the shadow, who's all but featureless face betrayed no emotion. The watcher raised his weapon until it was level with the shadow's face, and touched the tip of the blade to its forehead. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, light burst from the sword, wrapping its way around the shadow and the watcher.

When the light faded, the watcher lifted his blade away from the shadow, who swayed and crumpled to the ground. The watcher knelt beside him. After a minute, the shadow lifted his head. His features had solidified into those of a young Hylian man. His eyes had changed as well, from a blank, featureless crimson, to lively, alert ruby. The shadow blinked in confusion.

"What…what happened? Who are you? Where am I? Who…_who_ am I?" the shadow asked. The watcher cracked a grin.

"You're in Skyloft, friend. I fixed the crappy job your creator did when he made you. Congratulations, you now have a soul and free will!"

"Whaaaa?" The watcher sighed in exasperation.

"Okay. Whoever made you, they did it wrong. Every living thing is supposed to have a _soul_, okay, and your creator didn't bother with one for you, so I gave you one. Sheesh, if they wanted a mindless puppet, they could have just made an automaton or something. Anyway, whoever created you, or summoned you, or whatever, dumped you here in Skyloft. You remember anything from before?"

"Ummm…..a few faces, and an order to guard…something. A sacred artifact or something, hidden here. But…..who are you? Who am _I_?"

"They didn't give you a name?"

"I don't remember one."

"Alright then. I'll give you one. Let's call you…..Shujinkō no Kage, or Kage for short. It means 'Hero's Shadow', in the tongue of the goddesses. As for me….." The watcher grinned mischievously. "Call me Chaos. Now, I think that whatever this artifact is, it's going to be important to the plot of this story, so let's just keep an eye on it and see who comes to take it. After all, isn't the instrument here Hylia's Harp? I think the heroes need it to complete their quest, and I _do_ want them to succeed. Maybe that will break that curse on the lines. Finally, after all these centuries…." He trailed off; noticing the funny look the newly-named shadow was giving him. "Just stop me if you don't want me going off in a monologue."

"Okay…" Kage replied cautiously. He supposed that this strange young man was his new master, and, though he remembered little, he was fairly certain none of his previous masters had ever let him cut them off midspeech. As he trailed after the still-rambling Chaos, he contemplated his new…identity, he guessed. _Shujinkō no Kage….Hero's Shadow, huh? I've never heard this before, I don't think, so why does it feel so…..right? It feels like it…..fits me, somehow._ For the first time ever, a grin crossed his features. _I have a name. I can do what I want. I'm my _own_ person, not someone else's puppet. I'm Shujinkō no Kage._

**A/N: And Dark has finally made his appearance. Naturally, he's not ****_quite_**** so awesome now as he will be later, but the poor guy has to adjust to his new freedoms. Oh, and we won't run into him again for a while yet, until I hit the Skyloft chapters. Remember, send me a villain by 11:59 tonight, and I could acknowledge you in my disclaimer! Drop me a review if you don't!**


End file.
